Former 'Ex-Gay' Lears Denounce 'Conversn Therapy' In A New Documentary : NPR

Contents:

• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?
• PRAY AWAY GO DEEP INTO THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN THE '70S
• 'DEAR EX': A MAN DI, LEAVG BEHD A WIFE, A SON AND A SECRET GAY LOVER
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ FILM REVIEW: POWERFUL DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT
• ONCE A RISG STAR OF THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT, JULIE RODGERS SPEAKS OUT AGAST ‘NVERSN THERAPY’ NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY: ‘I RRY WH ME THE SRS.’
• NETFLIX FANS HORRIFIED AS RYAN MURPHY DROPS FIRST TRAILER FOR HARROWG GAY NVERSN THERAPY DOCUMENTARY
• JULIE RODGERS SHAR STORY OF SURVIVG ‘EX-GAY’ MISTRI NEW BOOK AND NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
• JOHN PLK WAS THE POSTER BOY OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT FOR 25 YEARS. HERE'S WHERE HE IS NOW.

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

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.

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

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.

WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?

”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.

”“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.

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.

PRAY AWAY GO DEEP INTO THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN THE '70S

It wasn't until the suici of his iend, who was also part of the "ex-gay" movement, that he reevaluated everythg.

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.

'DEAR EX': A MAN DI, LEAVG BEHD A WIFE, A SON AND A SECRET GAY LOVER

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.

As Rodgers reunts Pray Away, a new Netflix documentary on the “ex-gay” movement wh wtern Christiany, and her book Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story, Chelette preached an enticg, sid gospel of change: that Rodgers’ attractn to women was due to an sufficient bond wh her mother as a child, that such attractns uld be nrologilly altered by mted study, that to do otherwise would be a disappotment to God and the muny that had formed the backbone of her life to date. The 100-mute film, directed by Kriste Stolakis and executive produced by Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum, exam the stctively mon practice and s larger “ex-gay” movement, often led by LGBTQ+ people who themselv believed they had changed, several of whom later renounced their the film outl, nversn therapy is neher a specific practice nor sgular movement; ’s “this plex amalgamatn of old psdo-psychology that’s disproven, the spirual belief that you don’t have a place God’s kgdom if you don’t change, and then this culture that surrounds you wh the msag that are pable”, Stolakis told the Away foc particular on Exod Internatnal, the non-prof, ter-nomatnal anizatn found 1976 by five evangelil Christians, which propelled and popularized the ia that was possible – and preferable – to change one’s sexual orientatn.

” As the film not s da, youth who experienced some form of nversn therapy are more than twice as likely to die by Away clus numero figur who were formerly volved the ex-gay movement, om Exod -founr Michael Bse (who left the anizatn 1979) to former Fay Rearch Council spokpeople Yvette Cantu and John Plk. The segments wh McCall monstrate how the ex-gay movement’s iology has ntued unr a different name, through social media works rather than through tradnal media, wh msagg updated to the era of Instagram empowerment.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

’ Photograph: NetflixThat “eedom” (om beg gay) is still one found nial, rejectn, a basele belief that anythg other than straight is broken and sful. “A fg part of this movement is that ’s an example of homophobia and transphobia wield outwards, ” said Stolakis. “As long as a culture of homophobia and transphobia ntu – our church, our muni, our untry – you will see somethg like this.

“Jt like what we saw polilly wh the ex-gay movement, has real polil implitns for other trans people bee eher directly or directly, supports anti-trans legislatn, which we’re seeg bee ubiquo this untry. ”For Rodgers, whose weddg to a woman is clud the film’s fal scen, the toll of ex-gay movement is visible, personal, years of directg imposed shame ward. Over the urse of nearly 40 years, a group lled Exod Internatnal had a chokehold on the "ex-gay" movement—a relig ph suggtg that wh work and therapy, people the LGBTQ+ muny uld "undo" their queerns.

‘PRAY AWAY’ FILM REVIEW: POWERFUL DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT

As members ntued to leave the mistry, nounce nversn therapy, and rume their liv as gay, lbian, bisexual, and trans people, the anizatn always reced more people willg to be fac for the group. Worthen, who has been emed the "Father of the Ex-Gay Movement, " spent a good chunk of the 80s travelg the world and startg more ex-gay mistri. Eventually, Worthen and his wife turned the res of Love Actn over to John Smid, an "ex-gay" who served as Executive Director om 1991 to 2008.

ONCE A RISG STAR OF THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT, JULIE RODGERS SPEAKS OUT AGAST ‘NVERSN THERAPY’ NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY: ‘I RRY WH ME THE SRS.’

Gay bar. Eventually, Plk left the ex-gay mistry 2003. In 2004, he said, "For s ex-gay mistry has been centered around the USA.

In a statement, he spoke out agast reparative therapy, suggtg that while the practice of homosexualy was still a s his ey, reparative therapy did not remedy homosexualy people.

The new Netflix documentary Pray Away exam the Exod "ex-gay" movement that was found the '70s by five men the evangelil church who sought to pray the gay word got out about the group that was seekg to ex the "homosexual liftyle, " the men received more than 25, 000 letters om folks hopg to do the same, and spurred the formatn of Exod Internatnal, the largt and most ntroversial nversn therapy anizatn the world, acrdg to the film's synopsis for the film om executive producers Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum reads:"But lears stggled wh a secret: their own 'same-sex attractns' never went away. Focg on the dramatic journeys of former nversn therapy lears, current members, and a survivor, Pray Away chronicl the 'ex gay' movement's rise to power, persistent fluence, and the profound harm . The film opens wh 13-year-old Chengxi (Joseph Huang) claimg he always knew his dad was gay.

NETFLIX FANS HORRIFIED AS RYAN MURPHY DROPS FIRST TRAILER FOR HARROWG GAY NVERSN THERAPY DOCUMENTARY

(He's played by a terrific Roy Chiu, whose raw, prickly performance has no trace of the mcg-younger-gay-lover onscreen stereotype.

Sanlian's storyle, particular, feels retrogra, both her views on gay men and her rtoonish attempts to keep a handle on her son by any means necsary – cludg an obssn wh sendg him off to llege Canada. In the photograph of the alleged msag Howard allegedly msaged: “Now I want you to know I'm not like gay or anythg.

More on Towleroad about Dwight Howard and gay athlet. John Plk and his wife Anne appeared on the ver of Newsweek magaze 1998 as the face of Christian ex-gay therapy.

JULIE RODGERS SHAR STORY OF SURVIVG ‘EX-GAY’ MISTRI NEW BOOK AND NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

Such visual reenforcement is nstant “Pray Away, ” as we see footage of Plk and many other so-lled “ex-ex-gays” when they were beg tortured by their mistri alongsi footage of them lookg far happier after they ped.

Stolakis refully and patiently charts the rise and fall of Exod, an ex-gay mistry found 1976 and disband 2013 after s print, Alan Chambers, went to listen to a group of ex-ex-gays and me out of that meetg very shaken by what he had heard.

“Pray Away” foc maly on relig ex-gay therapy startg wh Exod, but Stolakis do clu a sectn on one of the figureheads of s secular unterpart, a doctor named Joseph Nilosi. From what we see of a therapy ssn here wh Nilosi and a male patient, the psychoanalytic versn of ex-gay therapy is far srier and more sid when lacks a relig ponent.

JOHN PLK WAS THE POSTER BOY OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT FOR 25 YEARS. HERE'S WHERE HE IS NOW.

The relig ex-gay therapy as practiced by Exod and also by a group lled Livg Hope, which was n by a man named Ricky Chelette, is a bastardized and near-ic versn of the psychotherapy doled out by Nilosi and his ilk, wh a leang on clichés about childhood trma as the explanatn for everythg.