Dr. George Rekers

My heart skips a beat when men like George Rekers enter the news. Accuse me of schadenfreude if you will, but I truly relish the exposure of hypocrisy among the bigoted. Rekers, author of such enlightening titles as Shaping your Child’s Sexual Identity and Growing Up Straight: What Families should Know about Homosexuality, is now embroiled in a very public, gay sex scandal. He will join the gallery of exposed demagogues spewed out by the religious right in embarrassing scandals and hopefully, vanish from our sights forevermore. Accused of taking an erotic jaunt around the globe with a rent boy, Rekers is luckier than some. Missing the accusations of steady drug abuse and financial corruption that usually accompany these affairs, his only crime is that to which he has written several books and spoke against in court.

I suppose to any rational minded person it should come as no surprise that a man who has devoted his life to protecting children from the gay condition would suffer from some issues of his own. Rekers characterisation of gays as damaged souls, capable of returning to normalcy through contemplation and good Christian reinforcement has a certain insecurity inherent.

Fortunately for Rekers, he can fall back on his close association with NARTH. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality identifies its goal as providing therapy for those with unwanted homosexual attractions. Given Rekers bibliography I’m quite sure he would classify his desires as unwanted and his work for NARTH over the years must be worth a free session or two; I imagine the scenario would be a good case study for them. Unfortunately for George Rekers, every credible psychiatric association in the world has rejected the idea that homosexuality is anything other than innate. Perhaps with time he might learn to repress his affection for young and attractive traveling companions but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

That he belongs to a community that would not accept his nature is sad but I have no pity for George Rekers. A lifetime projecting his insecurities onto others has helped create the world that will not take him as he is. When a man testifies in court as to the unsuitability of gays as adoptive parents, he bends the law to meet his failings. This scandal will take the life Rekers has and spit out a new one, as it has with so many others. Maybe he will get a chance to start again; he might even get it right this time.