Desert stream

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Logo of Wuestenstrom

Wuestenstrom (own spelling wuestenstrom , also Wüstenstrom ) is an evangelical Christian organization based in Tamm , Baden-Württemberg . It provides consulting, seminars and self-help groups for people who have relations , "its identity as a woman or a man " or their sexual experience conflictual.

Wuestenstrom has become known for her controversially assessed work, which is based on the thesis that homosexuality is not an integral part of personality, but a symptom of a deeper, treatable and curable conflict and therefore changeable. Wuestenstrom is therefore assigned to the ex-gay movement . Because of her ideological conviction, she classifies same- sex intercourse as a sin .

The advice offered by Wuestenstrom is not a therapy in the sense of a medical service or the Psychotherapist Act . Approval would be required for this.

history

In 1990 Günter Baum was commissioned to work in Germany as an employee of the Christian diaconal organization Elops from the USA to set up the Living Waters pastoral care initiative "Wuestenstrom" (named after Andrew Comiskeys Desert Stream Ministries ) as a branch of Elops' work, for which he was officially appointed by Comiskey . In the years to come, Baum's work resulted in a number of Living Waters groups in Germany. Günter Baum had previously got to know the Living Waters pastoral care concept and its pastoral work in the AIDS area at Elops in the USA from Comiskey. Today Baum is an ex-ex-gay .

Independently of this, Markus Hoffmann, a qualified social worker, worked on a preliminary self-help concept with a group of homosexual men to change their sexual orientation.

In 1994 Baum and Hoffmann met at an international symposium, from which plans for a joint work developed. Baum, as a nursing teacher, was particularly interested in looking after homosexuals suffering from AIDS. Hoffmann, a social worker and deacon, focused on developing a counseling approach for people with same-sex inclinations.

After a homosexual "relapse", Baum was unable to continue with the work because Desert Stream Ministries demands years of homosexual abstinence from their national leaders. By mutual agreement, Elops, Baum and Hoffmann decided to hand over the work to Hoffmann. Baum underwent therapy in Berlin to clarify his future path in life, and subsequently decided to live his homosexuality as a Christian. He founded the association Zwischenraum , which gives homosexual Christians support in self-acceptance, including their sexual orientation. Today he is very critical of the Living Waters concept. In a joint statement, Baum and Hoffmann opposed "being instrumentalized by those media which, for the sake of showmanship, only harm us and the people entrusted to us."

Hoffmann has been working full-time with Wuestenstrom since 1997. In 2000 Wuestenstrom became a registered association.

Wuestenstrom Schweiz was founded in 2004, managed by Rolf and Ria Rietmann.

As with Desert Stream in the USA, in addition to working with homosexuals, I also worked with people who have experienced sexual or psychological abuse by clergy, with pornography and sex addicts, and with people who generally have problems with self-esteem.

working area

The work of Wuestenstrom is divided into three areas.

Self-help starting life

Aufbruch Leben is a self-help pastoral care program for church work that is carried out by various evangelical churches. It is a follow-up program to Living Waters that was revised by Markus Hoffmann and, unlike Living Waters, is no longer specifically designed for homosexuals.

According to Wuestenstrom, the program is aimed at people who have problems with their sexuality or “being a woman / man”, who have to deal with sexual trauma, or who want to clarify their relationships and improve their ability to relate. Wuestenstrom Schweiz offers a special twenty-week program for sex addicts in a closed small group.

Aufbruch Leben consists of three course modules of around ten weeks each, led by volunteers trained by Wuestenstrom. According to Wuestenstrom there are around 450 volunteers with this training today. The three course modules deal with the relationship with God, personal maturity, life conflicts, forgiveness and the ability to develop relationships.

Advisory and accompanying work

Wuestenstrom describes this work area as life counseling and offers individual seminars, group work and intensive seminars for specific problems. According to Wuestenstrom, the advice is aimed at people who perceive their sexuality as conflictual or who are unsure of their identity.

Advice on homosexuality

Wuestenstrom's advice on homosexuality is of particular interest to the public. It is said that advice is “open-ended” on a wide variety of conflicts, but also speaks of change and the “possibility that homosexuality can be changed if certain traumatic (...) issues related to it can be resolved”.

Wuestenstrom admits that homosexuality is not a disease according to medical-psychiatric criteria, but still regards it as a symptom of a disorder. When accompanying people who suffer from their homosexual feelings, according to their own statements, they therefore do not have the goal of “ultimately portraying homosexuality as a disease again or treating it as such.” Wuestenstrom states that it provides “open-ended advice” and has expressly undertakes to “respect the decision of a person, in which form they live out their sexual orientation.” Nevertheless, one wants to ask about possibilities for change for those who do not want to decide on a “homosexual identity”, but want a change.

Wuestenstrom says it refuses to work with people who only seek a change in response to external pressure. Manipulative polarity reversal is expressly described as harmful and dangerous. They also distance themselves from the healing concepts of the charismatic scene.

In addition to the advice provided by Wuestenstrom itself, Wuestenstrom has, according to its own information, trained over 60 pastors and advisers in the last five years.

financing

The seminars and consultations are financed by participant contributions. These can amount to around 90  Swiss francs for a day seminar, 180 euros for a three-day intensive seminar, or 50 euros per hour for an individual consultation. For long-term care, according to individual reports, larger (e.g. four-digit) sums can come about. An anonymous victim reports alleged payments of € 4,000 to Wuestenstrom.

Code of Ethics and Differences in Practice

The ethics code of the association was examined by three Austrian university professors who wanted to organize a congress on the subject of "Therapeutic work with Ichdystoner sexual orientation" and found "to be a defensible position of a religious organization", "even if the therapeutic work is in our two clinics clearly differs from this practice. "

public relation

In its public relations work, Wuestenstrom deals with topics such as partnership and sexuality, homosexuality, transsexuality, pedophilia, sexual addiction, youthful sexuality, and sexual abuse.

With reference to her interpretation of the Bible, Wuestenstrom feels committed to the life plan of the marriage of woman and man, but according to her own statements he also wants to treat other life plans with respect. It is unclear how the organization its cooperation with organizations in the US explained that until the decision of this in mind the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Lawrence v. Texas advocated continuing the criminalization of homosexual acts.

For example, shortly before the vote on the Civil Partnership Act , Wuestenstrom published the fourth edition of the thesis paper “Gay marriage ?! No to the yes-word ”was published in September 2000 and distributed. Shortly before the Swiss referendum on the Partnership Act , an edition was sent in April 2005. In it Wüstenstrom spoke of a " dictate of the gay movement " and wrote, among other things: "The law means a major threat to the development of our children". Since homosexuality (only) acquired the status of a life model with the law, adolescents would be confused by this “additional option” when searching for their gender identity. Young people with homoerotic feelings could "fixate" on this lifestyle and get stuck in the development of their sexuality. This confusion was already apparent before the introduction "through the propagation of the homosexual lifestyle ". The German version then asks whether the integrity of the body guaranteed in the Basic Law is not also threatened. The American Psychological Association believes that research has disproved such a claim. Even children who grow up with gay or lesbian parents are just as healthy as children in traditional families. In addition, the fact that they have lesbian or gay parents has no influence on success in school or on the sexual orientation of children. In the Swiss version they state that even among adult, clearly heterosexual men they would find increasing insecurity with regard to their own feelings "- mostly from men with a somewhat more feminine charisma." In the German version, the option of a testamentary decree is given for a same-sex partner as a “legal privilege”, as well as the fact that a landlord must “accept a same-sex life partner as a co-tenant” (this was fought for in 1984 before the Federal Court of Justice). In the Swiss version, the wording is a little more moderate, in the case of inheritance law, the forgotten exception to the compulsory portions is added and instead of tenancy law, the right to refuse to testify is cited in some cantons.

The association is taking legal action against critical journalists who report "reversal of polarity" in connection with desert currents, as well as against at least one former client. In 2008 the regional court in Frankfurt am Main ruled that the designation of Christian “therapies” as “Umpolen” is covered by freedom of expression , and revoked the injunction issued against a journalist .

criticism

Wuestenstrom's approach contradicts the scientific majority position that a homosexual orientation cannot be changed, that is, “converted” into a heterosexual orientation. The psychologist and book author Kurt Wiesendanger, for example, described “umpolungstherapien” like those of Wuestenstrom as the result of a “inhuman mental attitude”. They violently strike the wounds that have torn years of exclusion and discrimination. Udo Rauchfleisch, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Basel, called on the medical and psychological associations in a statement on a desert electricity campaign to "take a clear stand against such unprofessional and ethically unjustifiable activities." In view of frequent consequences such as depression and despair Right up to suicide, he named reparative therapies as clear "abuse and [...] damage through so-called therapeutic or pastoral interventions."

Günter Baum , the founder of the first Wuestenstrom organization, is now openly homosexual again. He explained to the Basler Zeitung in 2000: "The longer I became aware that I was faced with a choice: Either I am pious, 'asexual' and psychoneurotic, or I live my gay life as a Christian and am mentally healthy." criticizes the fact that most ex-gays do not accept that there are “core homosexuals”, but does not doubt that there are homosexuals who could permanently change their sexual behavior. Günter Baum makes a clear difference between Wuestenstrom's work today, which he did not comment on a few years after these statements, but without taking anything back from his earlier criticism, and the approach of "Living Waters" he used at the time, which he continues to be keen refuses.

On the occasion of Markus Hoffmann's invitation to a congress of the Graz University Clinic for Psychiatry in October 2007, there were protests from homosexual associations, psychiatrists and psychological psychotherapists. The Austrian Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy announced that it would withdraw from patronage if Hoffmann, who was scheduled as a speaker, was not removed from the congress. The Homosexual Initiative Vienna (HOSI) took this step in protest. In a statement, the organizers stated that they distanced themselves from any form of compulsive therapy, but that Hoffmann's workshop would be retained in the program, as it is not about homosexuality, but rather ego-dystonic sexual orientations .

The Ecumenical Working Group on Homosexuals and the Church commented: “It is certainly the responsibility of each individual whether or not to make use of“ change in the area of ​​homosexuality ”; However, based on what we know about desert electricity, we can only advise against consulting this organization. "

Psychologists are of the opinion that homosexuals' desire to change their orientation is not always voluntary, but is based on social pressure from those around them (see also: heteronormativity ). Psychiatric and psychological associations clearly point out the risk of damaging effects on clients through measures aimed at turning homosexuals into heterosexuals. In the DSM-IV of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the world's most influential association in its field, which has also found its way into the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) of the World Health Organization (WHO), homosexuality is not listed as a disorder, but the ego-dystonic sexual orientation : the rejection and defense of one's own sexual orientation. According to psychologists and psychotherapists, this rejection is based on what is known as internalized homophobia . For example, For example, the psychologist and psychotherapist Kurt Wiesendanger stated that "reversal therapies" for homosexuals would arise from an inhumane attitude and that "pathological and therefore in need of therapy [...] is not homosexuality, but its form of defense, homophobia" . Referring to the so-called therapy, he says: "For example, lesbians and gays who want to be" reversed "suffer from internalized homophobia. This requires treatment, but by no means the sexual orientation itself."

When asked about Wuestenstrom's “Christian sexual counseling”, Armin Traute, General Manager of the Professional Association of German Psychologists , made it clear that therapies aimed at “unlearning” homosexuality violated the association's ethical guidelines and were a violation of the “ Protection of the rights of the professionally entrusted persons ”. According to the association, “non-professionally trained advisors” generally pose a potential risk if they offer psychological advice or act psychotherapeutically.

Press coverage

The SWR showed TV reports in which an anonymous 25-year-old man reported that he had paid € 4,000 for courses and consultations on desert electricity. He and another anonymous interviewee also reported that severe depression and suicide attempts were the result of the counseling. Wuestenstrom claims in a counter-statement that Martin Klein's report contained untrue factual assertions and paperless speculations, including the allegation of an attempt to intimidate him beforehand. For Wuestenstrom, course costs of € 4,000 are incomprehensible. For the cost of individual consultations, 50 € per hour and for three-day intensive seminars 180 € would be "requested". Suicide attempts as a result of advice from Wuestenstrom are rejected by Wuestenstrom as untrue and published on their own website, letters of protest from third parties to SWR regarding the program, in which contrary experiences with Wuestenstrom are reported.

Wuestenstrom initially obtained an injunction from the regional court against the use of the expression "Umpolen" by the journalist Eckhard Stengel, since Wuestenstrom regards this as defamation in view of its open advisory approach . In the opinion of the defendant journalist, Wuestenstrom tried to avoid a public debate about his “reversal work” through this measure. The regional court then lifted this preliminary injunction itself, as the term "Umpolen" was not clearly defined, belongs to the area of ​​expression of opinion, and is understood neutrally by the average reader as a synonym for change. In response to the objection of the association's lawyer that Wuestenstrom's advisory service was “open-ended”, the adjudicating judge Regina Zöller-Mirbach asked how this could go hand in hand - “on the one hand to propagate the change in homosexuals in writing everywhere, but on the other hand to want to encourage their inclination ".

The TAZ reports that Wuestenstrom had threatened former clients and critics so that the organization's methodology would not be made public. So she reports of intimidation attempts by Wuestenstrom against dropouts and journalists. Wuestenstrom is under particular criticism because supposedly “weak” are targeted.

On January 18, 2007, Karin Kontny wrote an article entitled Healing in God's Name in the time against which Wuestenstrom filed a complaint with the German press council because of false allegations of fact , which rejected most of the allegations, but, according to the time itself: “because of minor deficiencies ", decided:" The complaints committee considers the violation of paragraphs 2 [journalistic diligence] and 9 [protection of honor] of the press code to be so serious that it chooses the measure of disapproval in accordance with Section 12 of the Complaints Procedure ". The disapproval has no legal relevance.

Die Zeit reported: “Seldom has a ZEIT article had such unpleasant consequences for its author as the report on the Wuestenstrom organization and its therapeutic treatment of homosexuals in Baden-Württemberg for Länderspiegel employee Karin Kontny (No. 4/07). The association obtained a disapproval of the ZEIT reporting by the German Press Council, the reasoning of which the editors cannot understand. What was worse was that in the following time the author was persecuted with threatening phone calls and hateful emails from the spectrum of Christian conservative sects. When an unknown woman cursed her in the supermarket, she also discovered that her photo had been published on the Internet. "

See also

literature

  • Kurt Wiesendanger: Gays and lesbians in psychotherapy, pastoral care and counseling. A guide , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001 ISBN 3-525-45878-9
  • Renate Hauser / Martin Friedrich: "Nuts and Bolts or: How Living Waters brings your screw to its mother", in: Lambda Nachrichten IV 2003, 38-40

swell

  1. ↑ Wuestenstrom: Who we are  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  2. ↑ a b Baum / Hoffmann: JOINT DECLARATION WITH "INTERMEDIATE SPACE" - Development of the pastoral care initiative "Wüstenstrom" to wuestenstrom eV  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Joint declaration by Günter Baum and Markus Hoffmann, 2006, wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  3. ↑ Rolf Rietmann: Sex and Dignity , Jesus.ch
  4. ^ Wuestenstrom-CH: History version of December 10, 2009, wuestenstrom.ch
  5. ↑ Wuestenstrom: Work areas - Self-help: Aufbruch Leben  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  6. ↑ Wuestenstrom: Work areas - life counseling  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  7. ↑ Katja Gelinsky: Church and Homosexuality - Umschwulung zum Mann , Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, June 17, 2007, No. 24, p. 59
  8. ↑ Wuestenstrom: main topics - homosexuality  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.de, URL-1@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  9. ↑ Markus Hoffmann, Stefan Schmidt: Clarification: On what basis do we accompany those seeking advice?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.de, May 27, 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  10. ↑ a b Markus Hoffmann, Board Members: Self-Commitment and Basics of Work ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 114 kB), July 27, 2001, version from July 31, 2006, wuestenstrom.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wuestenstrom.de
  11. ↑ Wuestenstrom: main topics - homosexuality  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.de, URL-2@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  12. ↑ Gays can become 'different'  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Interview by Markus Hoffmann with IDEA magazine, December 28, 2006, wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  13. ↑ Wuestenstrom-CH: Women's Seminars ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wuestenstrom.ch @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wuestenstrom.ch
  14. ↑ a b Stefan Schmidt: False statements at SWR  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 19, 2008, wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  15. ↑ a b SWR: Controversial therapies for homosexuals at Wuestenstrom , May 15, 2008 ( Youtube: Wüstenstrom at Christival )
  16. ↑ a b Raphael M. Bonelli , Walter Pieringer, Hans-Peter Kapfhammer as organizers: RPP 2007: Opinion on workshop 4.6 with the title “Therapeutic work with ichdystonic sexual orientation” (PDF file; 29 kB), Congress Religiosity in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , August 21, 2007, rpp2007.org
  17. ↑ a b Udo Rauchfleisch: Statement on the brochure “Homo marriage ?! No to the yes-word “of the pastoral care organization Wuestenstrom , lsbk.ch/ between space
  18. ↑ a b c "Gay marriage !?" No to the yes word. 8 theses on the Civil Partnership Act. 4th edition 11/2000 Wuestenstrom Tamm. 28 pages of
    "Gay Marriage !?" No to the yes word. 8 theses on the federal law on the registered partnership of same-sex couples. 2. PDF version March 17, 2005. Wuestenstrom Pfäffikon. 30 pages
  19. ↑ APA / Office of Public and Member Communications: Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality (PDF file; 128 kB) - "Can lesbians and gay men be good parents?", Apa.org, 29. January 2008
  20. ↑ Sadie F. Dingfelder: The kids are all right , (APA) -Monitor, Vol. 36, No. 11, December 2005, p. 66
  21. ↑ Lea Winerman: Timely action , (APA-) Monitor, Vol. 35, No. 10, November 2004, p. 48
  22. ^ Maria Sabine Augstein: Marriage and Divorce. Why it is supposedly not possible for lesbians and gays ; Manfred Bruns: The "Action Standesamt" of the SVD and the "Gay Jurists" , both in: [Berlin] Senate Department for Youth and Family - Section for Same-Sex Lifestyles (Ed.): Lesbians. Gay. Partnerships ( Memento from April 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 955 kB) , Berlin 1994, in the series: Documents of Lesbian-Gay Emancipation of the Unit for Same-Sex Lifestyles , No. 9
  23. ↑ a b Gitta Düperthal: Admissible statement made , taz, May 10, 2008
  24. ^ Federal Government of Germany: Anti-homosexual seminars and pseudo-scientific therapy offers by religious fundamentalists. Reply of the Federal Government to 16/7917 (PDF file; 108 kB), 16/8022, February 12, 2008
  25. ↑ a b Kurt Wiesendanger: Statement on "Umpolungstherapien" for homosexuals from a psychological and psychotherapeutic point of view ( memento of October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), letter of November 1, 2005, gaynial.net
  26. ↑ Till-R. Stoldt: I was very gay , Welt am Sonntag, November 30, 2003, p. 2
  27. ^ Salzburger Nachrichten: Protest against "healers" of homosexuals , 2007
  28. ↑ Irene Brickner: Gay "healer" and exorcist at the Congress of Psychiatrists , Der Standard, September 5, 2007; derstandard.at, September 12, 2007
  29. ↑ Reinhold Weicker: The HuK and the association "wuestenstrom eV": A critical review ( memento from June 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), 2007, version from December 1, 2009, huk.org
  30. ↑ Wuestenstrom Schweiz: Home page , literally: "The APA (American Psychiatric Association) is the most important association of psychiatrists and psychiatrists in training in the United States and is the most influential association in their field worldwide." , Viewed June 29, 2008.
  31. ↑ Bund Deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologinnen (bpd) / Armin Traute (General Manager): Christian Sexualberatung through Wüstenstrom eV - Therapy of Homosexuality ( Memento of the original from January 7th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Letter dated February 16, 2006, gaynial.net @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gaynial.net
  32. ↑ SWR report on alleged desert electricity victims from May 29, 2008 in: On the matter of Baden-Württemberg; accessed on June 2, 2008 ( Youtube: Wüstenstrom under review )
  33. ↑ Various: News - Politics - Letter of protest to the SWR  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 2008, wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  34. ^ Stefan Schmidt: News - Politics - "Umpolung" as opinion?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 21, 2008, wuestenstrom.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  35. ↑ Benno Schirrmeister: Association wants to "heal" homosexuals - Umpoler Club in its sights , taz, May 29, 2008
  36. ↑ Karin Kontny: Healing in God's Name , Die Zeit, No. 4, January 18, 2007 (no longer available online)
  37. ↑ German Press Council, complaint BK1-64 / 07, complainant: Wuestenstrom e. V., Markus Hoffmann, Respondent: DIE ZEIT, decision June 5, 2007
  38. ↑ Wuestenstrom: German press council expresses disapproval of "Zeit" articles  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 2007, wuestenstrom.de (= Deutscher Presserat / Manfred Protze: Decision of the Complaints Committee 1 in the complaint case BK1-64 / 07 , June 5, 2007)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wuestenstrom.de  
  39. ↑ Frank Drieschner: What further happened , Die Zeit No. 14, March 27, 2008, p. 11

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