Thursday, June 23, 2011

It Gets Better Project and the CHSCA

John Knapp posted on his CHSCA website video It Gets Better by Kate Bornstein. Kate is a former Scientologist and an open transgender person. Knapp announced that Kate Bornstein had joined the CHSCA advisory board. However, below Kate's video on the CHSCA website, there is a note which was written by someone else:

Publication on theCHSCA.org does not imply the author endorses the CHSCA, our mission, services, or opinions. We seek to represent a wide range of thinking—to as wide an audience as possible. We encourage readers to exercise critical thinking on all material posted at theCHSCA.org. Opinions expressed are solely the author's and may or may not reflect the values, ethics, or policies of the Center for Healing Spiritual & Cultic Abuse, Inc.

Specifically, we made an erroneous announcement that Kate Bornstein had joined our Advisory Board. This was executive director, John Knapp's mistake. Kate is not associated in any way with the CHSCA. But we love her anyway.


In the past, Knapp announced many people who, according to his words, joined the CHSCA advisory board. It is quite possible that Kate Bornstein was not the only one of these people who actually never joined it and who is not associated with the CHSCA.

Also, introducing Kate's video, Knapp failed to give any background of It Gets Better project or even to mention that Kate Bornstein was not the only person who made a video on this subject. He also failed to mention that this subject has nothing to do with cults. In addition, he failed to mention that It Gets Better project has nothing to do with his non-profit CHSCA. It is well known that Bible-based cults like to take biblical verses out of their context in order to make them speak what they want. It seems that Knapp used the same tactic.

A lot of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people and some non-LGBT people participated in It Gets Better project. The purpose of this project is to encourage LGBT teenagers who are discouraged because of being bulled for who they are and some of whom are thinking about committing a suicide. On It Gets Better project website, there is a detailed description of it. I do believe that this project is very important and that it is very good that Kate Bornstein participated in it. However, Kate was just one of many people who participated in this project. On It Gets Better project website and YouTube, there are many videos from It Gets Better project and they have nothing to do with cults.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were among the people who participated in It Gets Better project. Their speeches there give some background of it.








In one of previous posts, I embedded two other videos from It Gets Better project, by two open gays and Christian ministers Gene Robinson and Mel White. Many other videos from this project can be found on YouTube, on It Gets Better project website, and on other websites.

Friday, June 3, 2011

John Knapp Has No Right To Practice As LMSW Now

John Knapp's registration as LMSW (Licensed Master Social Work) in New York State expired in May 31, 2011. Now, he is not registered which means that he is not allowed to practice as a social worker in New York State:
To practice within New York State, a professional must be licensed and REGISTERED.


Update (posted on August 6, 2011): I just learned that Knapp renewed his registration and now his status appears as "Registered." When I checked his license information a couple days ago, he was not registered. So, even though he is registered now, he practiced without registration for over two months.