Several days ago, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he used to be gay, but managed to cure himself when he met his former wife Elizabeth Zimmerman (to whom he was married from 1973-2000).
Duterte’s situation is just one of many cases proving that people can leave the gay lifestyle. In fact, according to PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays), every year thousands of people who are gay or lesbian decide to become heterosexual.
Unfortunately, there aren’t too many stories in the news about ex-gays, and it’s not only because of the liberal media. There are a bunch of reasons why the public is not aware of these individuals, but the two main reasons are safety and shame.
Safety: ex-gays find themselves being discriminated against by members of the gay community. Ex-gays are also subject to being ridiculed, harassed, threatened, and even assaulted by members of the gay community for having the courage to stand up and tell their story. Such treatment is due to the gay community wanting the public to believe that ex-gays do not exist. The gay community also subjects ex-gays to such treatment because they see leaving the gay lifestyle as a form of betrayal. Thus, the gays believe that once someone become gay, that person is gay until the day he or she dies. Ex-Muslims face a similar situation.
It should be noted that ex-gays are also denied to participate in public events, and if they are allowed to do so, will face protests by gay activists.
Shame: many ex-gays want to leave their gay lifestyle behind them and move on with their lives. However, this is hard for some of them who fear what other
people will think of them once their past is revealed, e.g. people might think they are only pretending to be ex-gay, or still having feelings of being gay.
Another reason ex-gays choose not to reveal their past is the myth that gays are born that way (a myth put forth by the gay community), despite no scientific evidence to verify this claim, as well as the fact that there are many support groups, counseling programs, etc. available for those wanting to leave the gay lifestyle.
Duterte is not the only head of state who used to be gay. There have been stories claiming that Barrack Obama was gay before he met his wife. Such stories have yet to be verified, and if they are true, it will kill the myth that people don’t leave the gay lifestyle.
For more information on this topic, check out PFOX’s website at
http://www.pfox.org/.
