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

Contents:

• ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• 5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP
• WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?
• PRAY AWAY: THE HARROWG TE STORY OF THE "EX-GAY" MUNY THE FILM
• PRAY THE GAY AWAY

‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?

Exod Internatnal, evangelilism’s flagship ex-gay mistry, shut down 2013 after former lear Alan Chambers said had ed pa and harm to too many people and that more than 99 percent of those who’d sought help there hadn’t actually experienced an orientatn change. While mistri cludg Exod Internatnal and Foc on the Fay ed to preach that homosexual sire should be elimated, most evangelil church, pastors, and mental health profsnals today emphasize chasty amid sir that might last a lifetime. Even the Nashville Statement, a 14-pot manifto by the plementarian Council of Biblil Manhood and Womanhood, matas that homosexual sire may never change.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?

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.

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

As someone who profs to help gays and lbians bee "straight, " Dr.

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

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.

CAN CATHOLICS “PRAY AWAY THE GAY?”

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.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

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. 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. 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.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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. ’ 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.

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

“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.

PRAY AWAY: THE HARROWG TE STORY OF THE "EX-GAY" MUNY THE FILM

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. Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St. The area is also known for s ncentratn of bars, nightclubs, gay venu and strip jots – all of which are nsired sful Islam.

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.

PRAY THE GAY AWAY

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.