Don’t fall for JONAH’s vile homophobic propaganda

THE laughable notion that gay people can be turned “straight” is commonly held among a variety of crackpot Christian fundie groups, but our attention has just been drawn to the dotty and downright dangerous activities of a Jewish group called JONAH – “Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality”.

Four years ago, this vile little outfit received an endorsement from the Rabbinical Council of America, which described JONAH as:

The only Jewish based organization dedicated to assisting individuals with unwanted same sex attractions move from “gay” to “straight.”

JONAH, now in its tenth year, describes itself on its website as:

A non-profit international organization dedicated to educating the world-wide Jewish community about the prevention, intervention, and healing of the underlying issues causing same-sex attractions.

But worse, JONAH, according to US psychotherapist Joe Kort:

Perpetuates the unwise idea that gay people should marry, even if they are not attracted to their opposite-sex spouse. According to an article by Rabbi Joel Beasley posted prominently on JONAH’s site: ‘But even if their innermost desires remained unfulfilled, it does not matter. It may never become clear why some people do not feel predisposed to marrying someone of the opposite sex. The obligation remains. Marriage is meant to teach people how to rise above their own selfish needs in order to give to a partner who is both psychologically and physiologically different.’

This idea of marriage at all costs is cruel and unfair to the gay individual struggling to accept his or her sexual orientation. But, it is just as harmful for the spouse, who will likely find an unsatisfying marriage that may end in heartbreak and divorce.

Joe Kort

JONAH is so wedded to its interpretation of doctrine that it seems to have little regard for the feelings and legitimate needs of people – including children – who would suffer inside such catastrophic marriages.

Kort, who runs the Gay’s Anatomy blog, adds:

The organization adheres to NARTH’s archaic reparative therapy model and promotes the work of the International Healing Foundation’s Richard Cohen, a discredited fundamentalist Christian therapist and former Moonie who was expelled for life from the American Counselling Association in 2002.

While there are a few obligatory Jewish resources on the organization’s website, the majority of the books recommended to readers are written by born-again Christian authors. Works offered on the site by Richard Cohen, Joe Dallas, Jeff Konrad, Alan Medinger and John Paulk are deeply sectarian and consider believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior a crucial component in “overcoming” homosexuality.

Perhaps the biggest concern that most Jews have about JONAH is that it appears to be a front for converting Jews to Christianity. Like other ex-gay organizations, JONAH keeps no statistics and offers the promise of change without any documentation of success.

And Kort points out that:

A great book on homosexuality and Judaism on this topic is Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View. The author states that there is nothing in the Torah which states that homosexuality is wrong and bad. It does state, however, that if it is not your “true” identity than you should explore the reasons for the sexual acting out of homosexual behaviour.