Netflix's 'Pray Away' looks behd the curta of the 'ex-gay' movement

Contents:

• 5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?
• GAY THE PRAY AWAY: HEALG YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND RELATNSHIPS OM THE HARMS OF LGBT CONVERSN THERAPY KDLE EDN
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• PRAY THE GAY AWAY: THE EXTRAORDARY LIV OF BIBLE BELT GAYS
• 'PRAYG THE GAY AWAY': TRMA SURVIVORS CSA TO BAN NVERSN THERAPY
• PRAY THE GAY AWAY® THE MIL
• PRAY THE GAY AWAY® "A SER MIL EDY"

5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP

"Wh my first weeks therapy, I was told every other gay person on Earth had been executed....

By the end of the so-lled 'treatments, ' I believed the ernment was lookg for me bee the gays had brought AIDS to Ameri and that I now had this disease ragg through me.

" That is, they assumed that bee he was gay, 's bee his ntrollg mother and adbeat dad had nfed and irreparably trmatized his genals. In fact, they uldn't fd any trma to blame Sam's homosexualy on at all. 4 They Physilly Torture You For Beg Gay.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?

Later ssns would clu pper heatg ils, needl my fgers, and electric shocks, " all while Sam was shown gay porn.

Antos777/iStock/Getty Imag Of urse, no one explaed why they had a stockpile of gay porn on hand. Obvly, spe the old sayg, you n't "heatg-il the gay away. In fact, he got so ed to reprsg his te self that, even after he me out, he wasn't entirely sure how to be: When he got to llege and first enuntered the gay muny, he immediately "me out a ball of glter.

" He embraced a sparkly, Freddy Mercury-stage-show-liftyle bee he saw a bunch of out-and-proud homosexuals and thought that was how was done. "I'm very flamboyant, and that's partly bee of how I was troduced to the ia of other gay men existg.... I found out what a gay person looked like, and realized that was how I was supposed to act.

GAY THE PRAY AWAY: HEALG YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND RELATNSHIPS OM THE HARMS OF LGBT CONVERSN THERAPY KDLE EDN

2 There's A Reason Some Gays Are So "Flamboyant". Go to a hardware store on the day of the gay pri para and you might hear an old du wh a beer gut lament, "Why do them gays have to be so flamboyant?

The vast majory of homosexuals are -- shocker -- jt people.

FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY

But if you see somebody sportg an outlandish stume, 's not about makg homosexualy look fun to help "turn kids gay" (if Sam's gayns uld survive electroshock torture, then we're pretty sure another kid's straightns n survive a few paras and some sequ boas); 's about showg closeted gay kids that homosexualy isn't tomatilly a lifetime of misery.

1 Both Fah And Homosexualy Can Be Equally Intolerant. I'm the middle ground: From some fah muni, I'm attacked for beg gay. From some gay muni, I'm attacked as beg Christian.

Fally some mon ground between tolerant homosexuals and tolerant Christians: tolerance! For more sir perspectiv, check out 5 Reali of Beg Gay a Country Where It's Illegal and 6 Shockg Reali of the Secret 'Troubled Teen Indtry'. The revelatns surroundg Marc Bachmann's psychotherapy practice along wh his statements equatg gay people to barbarians reflect the eply held view among too many people that homosexualy is a psychologil or moral choice that n be altered and ed should be.

CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”

As someone who profs to help gays and lbians bee "straight, " Dr. There are several nservative relig anizatns, like Exod Internatnal and Homosexuals Anonymo, that claim to have helped people change their sexual orientatn through prayer, unselg, or a batn of both. Moreover, there are licensed mental health profsnals who practice what are lled reparative or nversn therapi signed to make gay people heterosexual.

The bt-known group of such clicians is the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), led by psychologist Joseph Nilosi. He and his followers claim that gays and lbians suffer om a damagg blend of childhood trma, shamg their fai of orig, and chronic unmet needs for love and affectn om their same-sex parents.

NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT

Reparative therapy supposedly helps gay clients bee heterosexual by workg wh them to amelrate toxic feelgs stemmg om their damaged childhoods.

Robert Spzer, a proment psychiatrist who, oddly enough, led the charge to remove homosexualy as a disease om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual, had unrtaken rearch wh 200 women and men who unrwent reparative therapy and believed themselv to be "cured" of homosexualy, as evinced by their abily to engage sexual relatns wh the oppose sex, marry heterosexually, and nceive children. In fact, there are many reports of people unrgog treatments offered by ex-gay mistri who not only return to homosexualy but have also been trmatized by this so-lled therapy.

The real diseas are homophobia and heterosexism, not homosexualy.

‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE

It is important to regnize that the great majory of psychotherapy profsnals argue vociferoly that such "treatment" is uhil bee homosexualy is not an illns — rather the "illns" is our tolerance of sexual and genr behavrs fallg outsi rtrictive societal norms. I also tell clients that reparative and nversn therapi, bis beg effective, are psychologilly harmful to gays and lbians, which is another reason I do not remend them and will not assist clients procurg such treatment.

People like Marc and Michele Bachmann believe that acceptg and even celebratg gay and lbian people will evably lead to the moral cle of our society. After survivg nversn therapy as a gay youth Texas, Erika found a path to healg her life, love, and relatnships.

It's a movement that's born out of a larger culture of homophobia and transphobia that still persists the majory of Christian church today. It wasn't until the suici of his iend, who was also part of the "ex-gay" movement, that he reevaluated everythg.

PRAY THE GAY AWAY: THE EXTRAORDARY LIV OF BIBLE BELT GAYS

Interview highlights clu extend web-only answers and have been eded for length and clary: Interview Highlights Thomas on how he joed the "ex-gay" movement and Exod Internatnal I was out of the closet the '80s. They also had a group for the gays, and unrneath all of that olns there was this toxic theology that said that you need to overe homosexualy.

Stolakis on what the ex-gay and nversn therapy movement looks like today Conversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement has always been practiced lolly. It's bee very lennial-driven bee there are younger people who've grown up homophobic and transphobic environments who are ready and willg to take the place of people like Randy. LGBT is still a popular term ed to discs genr and sexual mori, but all GSRM are wele beyond lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people who nsent to participate a safe space.

” Cox and Polis are eager to set off on an odd uple roadshow, the former Mormon missnary om ral Utah and gay multilnaire om Boulr. We s down wh Andrew and Mar om Dert Stream Mistri to discs the falsehood of the emotnally charged reactn to “pray away the gay.

'PRAYG THE GAY AWAY': TRMA SURVIVORS CSA TO BAN NVERSN THERAPY

When Amerin documentarian Kriste Stolakis set out to make her but feature film, she knew she wanted to she a light on the “ex-gay” movement, which nsists of those that believe a person’s genr inty or sexual orientatn n be changed. Really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward. Shot before the Covid-19 panmic, the film chronicl the rise — and subsequent fall — of Exod Internatnal, a nversn therapy anizatn that, acrdg to the team behd the the film, began as a Bible study group the 1970s nsistg of five evangelil men who were lookg to help one another leave the “homosexual liftyle.

But years after risg to stardom the relig right, many of the “ex-gay” lears, whose own same-sex attractns never went away, have sce e out as LGBTQ and disavowed the very movement that they helped to grow. Stolakis’ list of terviewe “Pray Away” clus Randy Thomas, the fal vice print of Exod Internatnal; Yvette Cantu Schneir, the former head of Exod’ women’s mistri; and John Plk, one of the most bt-known “ex-gay” people the world. “Somethg my team and I talked about a lot makg this film is, this really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward, ” said Stolakis, whose other directorial creds clu “The Typist” and “Where We Stand.

PRAY THE GAY AWAY® THE MIL

”While many former lears have renounced and spoken out agast the “pray the gay away” movement, Stolakis said “the larger culture of homophobia and transphobia, ” particularly relig muni, has allowed the movement to ntue wh younger lears, even wh the dissolutn of Exod Internatnal 2013 and the legalizatn of same-sex marriage the U. Alone, nearly 700, 000 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults have been subjected to some form of nversn therapy durg their lifetime, acrdg to a 2019 report om the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law.

”Wh “Pray Away” set to but more than 190 untri on Netflix this week, Stolakis wants to make one thg clear to every prospective viewer: The “ex-gay” movement was never led by jt “a uple of bad appl.

PRAY THE GAY AWAY® "A SER MIL EDY"

”“As long as that larger culture of homophobia and transphobia exists — be our church, any relig muny, our polil sphere or our culture — some versn of nversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement will ntue, ” she explaed. Movi|‘Pray Away’ Review: Atong for an Anti-Gay Stance ADVERTISEMENTIn this documentary, people who had promoted the ia that sexual orientatn uld be changed exprs their AwayDirected by Kriste StolakisDocumentaryPG-131h 41mThe Netflix documentary “Pray Away” profil several people who, the public sphere and the ntext of Christiany-cloaked “nversn therapy, ” peddled the ia that homosexualy uld be changed, and who now regret the sufferg they ed.

Michael Bsee, a founr of Exod Internatnal, nsired one of the major anizatns that preached that sexual orientatn uld be changed, was both an early promoter and an early harms nversn therapy , and the tactics , aren’t news at this pot, and “Pray Away” is more tertg when foc on how most of s subjects eventually embraced gay and bisexual inti spe havg formerly been so public their homophobia. Book ReviewedBarton Bernatte (2012) Pray The Gay Away: The Extraordary Liv of Bible belt Gays New York Universy prs ISBN: 0978-0-8147-8637-6 Number of Pag 272Where the Author is Comg omThis is a book that almost ma as a ‘great’ rather than jt a ‘very good’ soclogil study to the liv of 59 profsg LGBT Christians the Kentucky and Northern Texan areas of Ameri’s Bible Belt.