Tyrann Mathieu, 20, in August was dismissed from the LSU football program three weeks before the start of his junior season by coach Les Miles for violating team rules. Mathieu#39;s father told local media that Mathieu was in a drug-rehabilitation center, and the Southeastern Conference#39;s 2011 defensive player of the year was arrested in October for marijuana possession. Tyrann Mathieu, an All-American cornerback nicknamed the “Honey Badger” who was kicked off the Louisiana State University
It was worth a shot , wasn’t it?!?! A group of men are taking therapists to court for deceiving them after the promise to help them ‘overcome unwanted attractions’ failed…SMH. According to The New York Times , In New Jersey on Tuesday, four gay men who tried the therapy filed a civil suit against a prominent counseling group, charging it with deceptive practices under the state’s Consumer Fraud Act. The former clients said they were emotionally scarred by false promises of inner transformation and humiliating techniques that included stripping naked in front of the counselor and beating effigies of their mothers. They paid thousands of dollars in fees over time, they said, only to be told that the lack of change in their feelings was their own fault. Since the 1970s, when mainstream mental health associations stopped branding homosexuality as a disorder, a small network of renegade therapists, conservative religious leaders, and self-identified “life coaches” have continued to argue that it is not inborn, but an aberration rooted in childhood trauma. Homosexuality is caused, these therapists say, by a stifling of normal masculine development, often by distant fathers and overbearing mothers, or by early physical abuse. But leading scientific and medical groups say that the theories of homosexuality are unfounded and that there is no evidence that core inner-urges can be changed. They also warn that the therapy can, in the words of the American Psychiatric Association, cause “depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior” and “reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.” One former patient in the suit, Michael Ferguson, 30, who is now a doctoral candidate in neuroscience at the University of Utah, sought help from Jonah in 2008. He tried to battle his homosexuality, he said, when he was a practicing Mormon who believed that only those in a heterosexual marriage could achieve eternal bliss. “It becomes fraudulent, even cruel,” he said in an interview. “To say that if you really want to change you could — that’s an awful thing to tell somebody.” “I was encouraged to develop anger and rage toward my parents,” he added. “The notion that your parents caused this is a horrible lie. They ask you to blame your mother for being loving and wonderful.” Another former patient in the suit, Chaim Levin, 23, grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn where, he said, being gay seemed unthinkable. Referred to Jonah by a rabbi when he was 18, Mr. Levin began attending weekend retreats at $650 each. For a year and a half, he had weekly private sessions with Mr. Downing as well as weekly group sessions. He quit, he said, after Mr. Downing had him remove his clothes and touch himself, saying it would help him reconnect with his masculinity. Mr. Levin said that he was abused by a relative between the ages of 6 and 10 and that Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Downing blamed the abuse for his homosexual attractions. “Saying the abuse made you gay is terrible,” Mr. Levin said. “Once I accepted that I was gay, I was able to focus on the more serious problem of a history of abuse.” Do you think it’s worth the ‘effort’ for men to try therapy in order to change their feelings for other men? Images via shutterstock
Trying to rid himself of ‘the gay’ drove him crazy !! The stories of what went down behind closed doors in the group home are disturbing. According to The Advocate : The ex-gay leader of a Christian prayer group is under investigation for possibly coordinating his wife’s murder. Tyler Deaton, 26, of Kansas City, Mo., is under investigation for allegedly coordinating the murder of Bethany Deaton, 27. A member of the prayer group, 23-year-old Micah Moore, told investigators that Deaton persuaded him to murder Bethany, and make it appear as a suicide. Moore has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Moore also told investigators many details of the group’s inner workings, according to The Kansas City Star. Moore said the group, which lived together in a home in Grandview, Mo., used intercourse as a means of spirituality. In the four months since the Deatons got married, several male members of the group allegedly assaulted Bethany. The Deatons attended the Methodist-affiliated Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. At school, Tyler Deaton became a forceful defender of his faith and the Bible, and started his own campus organization when he found the existing groups were not strict enough. “Everything had to go his way,” former classmate Christy Little told the Star. “One time he said there would be no discussion until everyone agreed that the King James version was the only true version of the Bible. Well, I was Catholic so I had a problem with that. So we argued and of course Tyler won everybody over because that’s what he did.” A member of his campus group added that it was clear he was struggling with his orientation, but “he believed God could fix things.” Another student added that Deaton eventually “overcame” his homosexuality, and that it was considered a victory. After graduation in 2009, Bethany and Tyler Deaton came to Kansas City, Mo., to join the International House of Prayer’s school and ministry, with other classmates. Bethany and Tyler wed in August. Since then some of the members of the group began drugging and assaulting Bethany, while also engaging in intercourse with Tyler, as part of the “religious experience,” witnesses told police. Moore said Tyler was worried Bethany would tell a therapist about the assaults, which is why they conspired to kill her. International House of Prayer’s leaders have condemned Deaton and the breakout prayer group, saying they had “secretive, perverse, cultist practices,” according to Yahoo News. Leaders added that they “deeply regret our failure to discern the nature of Deaton’s alleged secretive, perverse, cultist practices. We further regret his admission to IHOP-U four years ago and all connection he had with our organization.” The organization Truth Wins Out says that IHOP is covering up Deaton’s ties to IHOP. Deaton was reportedly one of six division coordinators for IHOP, even though IHOP claims that their organizers have never even heard of Deaton. Images via facebook
Kevin Clash, the voice of Sesame Street’s Elmo, agreed to pay his accuser $125,000, under one condition – that Sheldon Stephens retract the allegation that he was underage. Stephens alleged he was only 16 when Clash began an affair with him. Clash admits an affair , but insists it started when Stephens, now 23, was an adult. Stephens recanted his allegation days later, but only after a secret settlement was struck between the two parties. Under the terms of the settlement: Clash agreed to pay Stephens $125,000 . He releases a statement saying he [Stephens] wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship. If Stephens is asked by anyone about his relationship with Clash, he must only repeat the statement in the settlement that recants his story. Although Sheldon Stephens signed the document, he insists Clash, now 52, had sex with him when he was a minor and was pressured into signing the settlement. According to TMZ, Stephens was crying during the final negotiations with Clash’s lawyer and repeatedly insisted he didn’t want to sign; he did, however. It’s unclear who leaked these details to the celebrity gossip site, but it makes you wonder.
Joe Simpson pleaded no contest in his DUI case and will serve three years of probation, according to reports. He will also attend alcohol education classes. The embattled father of Ashlee and Jessica Simpson entered the plea to one misdemeanor count via his attorney Tuesday. A second count was dismissed. The 54-year-old, who has also been in the tabloids lately over his alleged trysts with Bryce Chandler Hill and Joey Anderson , was pulled over in August. He spent the night in jail after his arrest. A source said at the time that Simpson had had “a couple of glasses of wine at dinner with his wife” in Sherman Oaks (Calif.) and took a Breathalyzer voluntarily. Simpson, meanwhile, is in the midst of a divorce proceeding. His wife Tina Simpson , 52, filed for divorce in Texas last month, citing “discord or conflict of personalities” as the grounds for separation in court papers. Rumors that Joe is a closeted gay man have persisted, but the couple has said nothing publicly other than to say that the split has amicable. [Photo: WENN.com]
Chamique Holdsclaw, the ex-WNBA and University of Tennessee basketball star, is currently free on bail, following her arrest this week for allegedly firing a gun at ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lacy . But new, disturbing information has leaked out regarding the incident, courtesy of a 911 call placed by a friend of Lacy’s, who was in the vehicle when the Holdsclaw confrontation took place. This friend describes Holdsclaw as “mentally unstable.” She goes on to tell the operator that the former Rookie of the Year poured gasoline all over Lacy’s Range Rover, presumably to set it on fire. She specifically says that Holdsclaw attempted to “destroy” the car. Holdsclaw fled the scene before she could do so and before authorities arrived. She then turned herself in and is clearly in major trouble.
Shots were fired and police found a 9mm shell casing at the scene . Luckily Jennifer Lacey, Holdsclaw’s ex, wasn’t physically injured. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution : An arrest warrant was issued for former basketball star Chamique Holdsclaw on Thursday after a dispute with a woman allegedly turned violent, Atlanta police said. Holdsclaw, 35, of Smyrna, was not in custody Thursday afternoon, according to jail records. The warrant is for aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and reckless conduct, police said. Jennifer Lacy, who described herself as Holdsclaw’s former girlfriend, told police she was working out at a church on Ponce de Leon Avenue on Tuesday when Holdsclaw approached her and said she wanted to put some items in Lacy’s car. According to an incident report obtained by Channel 2 Action News, as Lacy drove from the church she smelled gasoline inside her vehicle and noticed that Holdsclaw was following her. Lacy, who is also a professional basketball player, said she drove to a friend’s house on Hemphill Avenue, at which time Holdsclaw got out of her car with a baseball bat and began smashing the windows in Lacy’s Range Rover, the report said. After breaking the driver’s side window, a rear passenger’s window and the rear window, Holdsclaw produced a handgun, fired inside the SUV and fled the scene, the report said. Holdsclaw played 12 seasons in the WNBA, including one year with the Atlanta Dream, in 2009. She was the No. 1 selection in the 1999 draft, after a four-year career at the University of Tennessee, where she led the Lady Vols to three consecutive national championships. She last played for the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2010. In her autobiography, “Breaking Through: Beating The Odds Shot After Shot,” Holdsclaw describes her childhood in the housing projects of Queens, N.Y., and her battle with depression early in her professional career. She currently serves as a spokeswoman for Active Minds, an organization “dedicated to empowering students to speak openly about mental health in order to educate others and increase help seeking,” according to the group’s website. Lacy, 29, plays for the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock. She played for the Dream in 2008. Well damn…hopefully Chamique gets the anger management help she desperately needs after she turns herself in! Images via tumblr
As anyone with a computer knows, there have been an endless number of Call Me Maybe covers since this Carly Rae Jepsen track blew up a few months ago. But a Ukrainian artist who goes by the name “Aza” is set to take legal action because she alleges the hit single itself is a ripoff of her “Hunky Santa.” Listen to it here and decide if Aza has any reason to claim that producers simply tweaked her song in order to create Jepsen’s version: Aza – “Hunky Santa” According to TMZ, a lawsuit will be filed today in which Aza seeks unspecific damages. Among those included as its target will be Scooter Braun, the manager for both Jepsen and Justin Bieber . “I’m shocked and surprised that these people wanted to sample my lyrics on their song,” Aza tells TMZ. “They didn’t ask me for permission, they just took it. That’s why I filed this lawsuit. When I first heard it on the radio, I was driving and almost got into an accident. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.” A rep for Carly Rae, meanwhile, has released the following statement in response to this controversy: “This is completely false and [Carly’s] lawyers will deal with this. Everyone knows [Carly] is a songwriter. She is not spending a lot of time listening to Ukrainian radio.”
Ellen Douglas has passed away. The Mississippi author, whose novel Apostles of Light was a 1973 National Book Award nominee, was 91 years old. Douglas, who cited fellow Mississippi native William Faulkner as a literary influence, was actually just the pen name of Josephine Ayres Haxton. She took a pseudonym to guard the privacy of her family. For good reason, it turned out. Douglas’ Mississippi-set work dealt candidly with race relations, families and the role of women, and was controversial. Douglas grew up in Hope, Ark., and Alexandria, La., and spent summers with her grandparents in Natchez, Miss., where the family’s roots reached back generations. She graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1942. She wrote 11 books, including six novels and several collections of short stories and essays. Apostles of Light is a complex novel about the mistreatment of residents at a home for the elderly in fictional Homochitto, Miss., the town in many of her works. “If you don’t have conflict, you don’t have fiction,” Douglas told The AP in a 2005 interview about race relations and other forces that helped shape literature. State Rep. Steve Holland, a funeral director handling arrangements, said Douglas died after an extended illness . He said she would be buried in her native Natchez.
With 49.3 percent youth voter turnout, MTV News takes a look at what election-day numbers mean. By Lauren Grillo and Casey Acierno Student Courtney Johnson votes on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa Photo: Scott Olson/ Getty Images
