by David Reinbold

Do people have absolute control over their sexual orientations? Is reparative therapy OK? Can a person "switch" themselves from gay to straight through the power of prayer?

Friday's panel at "Pray Away the Gay" aims to provide insight and answer questions. The 9:30 a.m. panel will feature: Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out; Jack Drescher, psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and David Foucher, CEO/publisher, EDGE. Eric Hegedus, page designer for the New York Post, will serve as moderator for the panel.

"It'll be an interesting panel because this issue mixes journalism, religion, sex, politics – all the stuff you're not supposed to talk about at the dinner table," Besen said. "This panel promises all of that and more."

According to Besen, the ex-gay movement has been around for as long as prejudice and discrimination.

"Wherever you face social repercussions, people will try to fit in for love and acceptance," he said.

Besen and Drescher believe the modern ex-gay movement originated around the latter part of the '90s, finding a comfortable home as a media campaign in the hands of the right wing and hyper religious. Besen said that campaigns were launched as a way to help the Right spark a conversation and make its cause look more compassionate while still discriminating.

"It's a media movement," Drescher said. "It's all about misinformation and publicizing high profile cases."

High profile cases like ex-gay activists Michael Glatze, former editor of Young Gay America magazine, and Charlene Cothran, publisher of Venus Magazine, are making their way to the forefront of the Web.

Venus Magazine, once aimed at the black gay and lesbian community, now boasts on its mission page, "We believe that homosexuality is outside of the will of God."

"If you talk to someone like Michael Glatze for more than 10 minutes, you just suspect that there's something terribly wrong," Besen said. "The ex-gay movement is exploiting these particular opportunities and I think it's very sad and tragic."

It's receiving so much publicity, that it's turning being an ex-gay into a money-making career.

"It's a multi-million dollar industry," Drescher said. "Ex-gays go to conferences, appear in advertisements and make appearances at demonstrations for pay."

But, are people really achieving what they claim?

Arguments surrounding the ex-gay movement criticize it for falsifying the gay experience, deeming it unnatural and making lofty proclamations of change. The number one argument on the pro ex-gay side: Here's a person who changed themselves through prayer and so can you.

"It's marketed in the fake healing way," Drescher said. "It's the patient's faith that is supposed to be the mystic ingredient; if the patient doesn't change, the patient gets blamed."

Drescher said that it's not a difficult task for those reaching out to faith-based healing to change and act straight; every gay person knows how to act straight before they come out, so it's not hard for them to pretend to be straight now.

"Therapies like this teach self loathing and make the patient learn to hate homosexuality," Drescher said. "The majorities of people don't change but end up worse than before they started."

These findings aren't just being noticed by those explicitly affected by the ex-gay ministries.

When asked his thoughts on the ex-gay movement, convention attendee Troy Diggs, a news producer from Kansas City, Mo., paused for a minute before answering.

"The best way to describe what I've read is: harmful," Diggs said. "It seems like most people who come out are repressed or experiencing more psychological trauma. I just don't think it's effective."

The therapy movement doesn't limit itself to adults, either. Reparative ministries are beginning to target children now, too.

"These ministries target youth as young as 3 years old, calling them 'pre-homosexual youth,'" Besen said. "It does an enormous amount of damage to tell young people that there's something broken that needs to be fixed. This is nothing short of child abuse."

Even touchier than reparative therapy for children is the amount of misinformation thrown around in the media. Besen and his fellow panelists hope to enlighten attendees, especially those who cover subjects surrounding these issues.

"This is an issue where the coverage is really hit or miss," Besen said. "This seems like a fantastic opportunity to impart my knowledge on both horrendous and fantastic coverage and everything in between."