Ex-Gay Ministries Inside America's Prisons

If you had a therapist who wanted to see you naked, wanted to know if you shaved your pubic hair, wanted to know how many push-ups you could do, and wanted to know what type of underwear you liked, would you recommend this therapist to others?

Probably not, right. So why does the Michigan Department of Corrections allow an ex-gay group like Corduroy Stone to have access to prisoners inside the state of Michigan, when its director has been accused of asking clients bizarre questions like the ones above?

Ah, the smell of controversy, right before the holidays kick in. Time to let the Michigan Department of Corrections hear about this one.

What's the story? Well, it all starts with an ex-gay group in Lansing, Michigan known as Corduroy Stone. Its director, ironically named Mike Jones (trust me, no relation), has long been a champion of ex-gay ministry, purporting on his organization's Web site to "offer a biblical response to the subject of homosexuality." He hopes to walk with people who question whether it's OK to be gay, and teach them "how homosexual attractions originated and how they can be reduced and in time...be replaced by a varying degree of heterosexual attraction."

Ex-gay ministries, of course, have been deemed by almost every professional health association to cause horrendous psychological damage. They are, in short, bad news. But Corduroy Stone owns the dubious honor of being so bad, that even the largest ex-gay ministry in the U.S. -- Exodus International -- doesn't want to be affiliated with them. That's largely because Jones (again, no relation!) has a bizarre and unseemly habit of asking his clients rather graphic questions about their anatomy.

So why does the Michigan Department of Corrections allow the affiliation? Time to take action and write the Department asking them to ban this harmful and bizarre organization from having contact with prisoners inside the state of Michigan.

Corduroy Stone made headlines earlier this month for getting the boot from Exodus International, after a Michigan resident, Patrick McAlvey, posted a video on the Web site for Truth Wins Out, accusing Cordoruy Stone of some tasteless and perverted "therapy." According to McAlvey, Corduroy Stone's director had a rather ghastly fetish for sexual details.

"He asked how large my penis was," McAlvey said of Jones’ therapy. "He asked if I shave my pubic hair. He asked what type of underwear that I wore. He wanted me to describe my sexual fantasies to him and the type of men I’m attracted to. On one occasion, he asked me to take my shirt off and show him how many push-ups I could do, which I did not do."

No, this isn't the plot of a Kim Kardashian home video. This is the sordid details of a "religious" organization that says on its Web site that it has an affiliation as a volunteer organization with the Michigan Department of Corrections. But is this really the type of organization we want inside America's prisons?

Cue the excellent reporting of Todd Heywood from the Michigan Messenger. Heywood writes that after the hullabaloo of Jones' exploits with Corduroy Stone, the Michigan Department of Corrections has come under fire for having an affiliation with the organization -- especially since the Department abides by a policy preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Does allowing an ex-gay ministry inside the state's prisons conform with that policy? Hardly.

Heywood writes that the Michigan Department of Corrections has decided to look into the affiliation with Corduroy Stone. But really, do they need to look into this? Is it ever a good idea to allow an ex-gay therapy program -- let alone one run by a guy more interested in his clients' genitals than "ministry" -- inside America's prisons?

Send a message to the Michigan Department of Corrections, letting them know that the state shouldn't have an affiliation, volunteer or otherwise, with a program like Corduroy Stone.