The Associated Press reported Sept. 6 that the church of Alaskan Governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Wasilla Bible Church, supports “converting” gays through the power of prayer.

Excerpt from the article:
Gov. Sarah Palin’s church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

In the Aug. 8 issue of The Indypendent, reporter Matt Kennard told the story of the ex-ex-gay movement in his article, “Battle of the Exes: Two Movements in the Gay Community.”

Joshua Ligan was 12 years old when the questions started. Relatives wondered if the boy was too effeminate. Family friends speculated about his lack of interest in girls. Soon both groups were warning his parents about allowing Joshua to fall in with “the wrong crowd.”

His conservative Christian-Filipino parents finally asked their son: Are you gay?

“I was raised to be honest — I admitted it,” said Ligan, now a 24-year-old theology student from Silicon Valley, Calif. “It wasn’t pretty. My parents were extremely distressed.”

Ligan’s family contacted a local Christian ministry and he began weekly counseling sessions that would begin with gender role discussions, and end with “deliverance,” which Ligan calls a “fundamentalist Christian form of exorcism.”

“I felt as if I was being suffocated,” he said. “They wouldn’t leave you alone until you renounce the spirit of homosexuality. It feels like you are renouncing yourself; it’s like losing your identity or losing your name.”

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