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

Contents:

• NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY
• 10 GAY DOCUMENTARI ON NETFLIX STREAMG
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• NETFLIX’S HOLLYWOOD: THE TE STORY OF STTY BOWERS, REAL-LIFE L.A. PIMPRYAN MURPHY’S NEW NETFLIX SERI IS SET LARGELY AT A GAS STATN BASED ON THE REAL-LIFE ONE N BY HOLLYWOOD PIMP STTY BOWERS.BY JULIE MILLERAPRIL 30, 2020STTY BOWERS AT THE ABBEY WT HOLLYWOOD ON JULY 25, 2018.BY TASIA WELLS/GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVETWO YEARS AGO, STTY BOWERS—THE LOS ANGEL HTLER WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE HOOKED OLD HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS UP WH WILLG SEXUAL PARTNERS, GAY AND STRAIGHT—WAS THE SUBJECT OF A FASCATG DOCUMENTARY, STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. IN , THE WORLD WAR II VETERAN TURNED PIMP DISHED ON THE ALLEGED SECRET SEX LIV OF KATHARE HEPBURN, SPENCER TRACY, CARY GRANT, ROCK HUDSON, CHARL LGHTON, RAYMOND BURR, VCENT PRICE, COLE PORTER, AND VIVIEN LEIGH, AS WELL AS THE LEGENDARY GAS STATN—ON THE RNER OF NORTH VAN NS AVENUE AND HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD—WHERE HE AND HIS LIBERATED IENDS, MALE AND FEMALE, SERVICED MANY OF THEIR A-LIST CLIENTELE. RYAN MURPHY’S LATT NETFLIX SERI, HOLLYWOOD, A FICTNALIZED HOMAGE TO 1940S HOLLYWOOD, PAYS TRIBUTE TO BOWERS BY FEATURG S OWN GAS STATN AND CHARISMATIC PIMP (ERNIE, PLAYED BY DYLAN MCDERMOTT).THE REAL-LIFE BOWERS CLAIMED HE WAS WORKG AS A GAS STATN ATTENDANT AT AGE 23, SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR, WHEN ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON PULLED UP AND ASKED BOWERS TO HOP TO HIS R. IN HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, BOWERS RATNALIZED THAT HOOKG UP WH CELEBRI FOR $20 WAS EASY, LUCRATIVE WORK. AS PIDGEON SPREAD WORD ABOUT HIS REPUTATN, BOWERS SAID, THE PIMP EXPAND HIS OPERATN—SETTG UP TWO KG BEDS A PARKED TRAILER AND ENLISTG GOOD-LOOKG MEN AND WOMEN TO HELP HIS SECRETIVE E. AMONG BOWERS’S RACIT CLAIMS: THAT HE TRODUCED KATHARE HEPBURN TO 150 WOMEN OVER SEVERAL S; THAT HE SET UP CARY GRANT WH AN EARLY-REER ROCK HUDSON; AND THAT HE PROCURED SEXUAL PARTNERS FOR WALLIS SIMPSON AND EDWARD VIII. BOWERS ALSO SAID HE SLEPT WH BOTH SPENCER TRACY AND VIVIEN LEIGH; HAD A THREE-WAY WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER; HAD A THREOME WH CARY GRANT AND HIS ALLEGED LOVER, RANDOLPH STT; AND CLAIMED THAT HIS SEX LIFE WAS SO UNHIBED THAT SURPRISED EVEN SEXOLOGIST ALED KSEY.IN HIS 2012 MEMOIR, WRTEN WH LNEL FRIEDBERG, BOWERS WROTE, “I WAS SETTG UP AN AVERAGE OF 15-20 TRICKS A DAY. THIS WAS A 24/7 OPERATN, EXTENDG OVER A PERD OF, SAY, 30 TO 40 YEARS. AS FOR TRICKS THAT I PERFORMED PERSONALLY, I WAS OFTEN SEEG TWO OR THREE PEOPLE A DAY.”PRR TO HIS MEMOIR, BOWERS WAS FASTIDLY DISCREET. HE NEVER KEPT A BLACK BOOK OF CLIENT NAM, REFG TO SPEAK ABOUT HIS FAMO CLIENTS UNTIL AFTER THEY DIED. HOMOSEXUALY WAS NOT LEGALIZED CALIFORNIA UNTIL THE 1970S; BOWERS’S OPERATN ALLEGEDLY HELPED UNTLS MEN AND WOMEN DULGE SEXUALLY WHOUT ENDANGERG THEIR REERS, REPUTATNS, OR, SOME S, MARRIAG.“THERE ALWAYS WILL BE SECRET LIFE HAPPENG,” BOWERS TOLD THE GUARDIAN 2018. “PEOPLE SHOULD DO WHAT PLEAS THEM AND THE OTHER PERSON—SOME PEOPLE JT PLEASE MORE THAN A FEW.”IN AN TERVIEW WH VANY FAIR, DYLAN MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HIS CHARACTER WAS CERTALY SPIRED BY BOWERS—BUT ALSO BY CLARK GABLE’S CHARACTER THE 1961 FILM THE MISFS. “I HAVE A POSTER OF THE MISFS STG MY BATHROOM AND LOOK AT EVERY DAY,” MCDERMOTT SAID, CG GABLE’S MTACHED AGG PLAYBOY AS A “ME” FOR ERNIE. “THERE WAS A CERTA QUALY HIM I WANTED. HIS HAIR, HIS MTACHE, THE WAY HE RRIED HIMSELF, AND HIS OPTIMISM, IF YOU WILL. IF STTY BOWERS AND CLARK GABLE HAD A LOVE CHILD, WOULD BE ERNIE.”DYLAN MCDERMOTT (LEFT) HOLLYWOOD MOLED THE CHARACTER'S LOOK AFTER CLARK GABLE'S THE MISFS (SET).LEFT, URTY OF NETFLIX; RIGHT, OM THE EVERETT COLLECTN.MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HE LOVED THE NTRADICTNS OF HIS CHARACTER. SURE, ERNIE IS A PIMP—BUT HE’S ALSO A SEXUALLY LIBERATED AND TOLERANT GUY WHO TAK RE OF HIS WORKERS AND FACILAT SATISFYG SEX FOR HIS CLIENTS A REPRSED ERA. “YOU’RE EXPECTG ERNIE TO EXPLO THE GUYS…BUT THE GREAT TWIST ON THE CHARACTER IS THAT HE’S NOT EXPLOG THEM. HE ACTUALLY LOV THE GUYS AND TAK RE OF THEM,” THE ACTOR POTED OUT.DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER—WHO IS ALSO A FORMER VANY FAIR WRER AND EDOR—HAS SCRIBED BOWERS G SIAR TERMS. AFTER SPEAKG TO SOME OF THE MEN WHO WORKED FOR BOWERS, TYRNER TOLD BUZZFEED THAT THEY SEEMED TO BE “HAPPY HOOKERS.… IT SEEMED TO BE VERY OL WH EVERYBODY WHO I TALKED TO.… THIS SEEMED TO BE HIGHLY NSENSUAL. AND NO ONE SEEMED TO HAVE A PROBLEM, WHETHER THEY WERE GAY, STRAIGHT, OR OTHERWISE, WH WHAT STTY WAS ASKG.”SPEAKG TO VANY FAIR EARLIER THIS YEAR, MURPHY SAID HE ED THE GAS STATN AS THE BACKDROP OF HIS SERI BEE HE WAS FASCATED BY THE FACT THAT “THERE WAS A MOMENT WHERE PEOPLE HAD TO GO TO THIS GAS STATN TO BE THEMSELV, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR SEXUALY, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR FANTASY.” AND THAT’S APPARENTLY JT WHAT BOWERS TEND. IN A 2012 TERVIEW, THE HTLER SAID THAT HE NEVER JUDGED HIS CLIENTELE. “SO THEY LIKED SEX HOW THEY LIKED ,” HE TOLD THE NEW YORK TIM. “WHO R?”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— BEHOLD DUNE: AN EXCLIVE LOOK AT TIMOTHéE CHALAMET, ZENDAYA, OSR ISAAC, AND MORE— HOW TO WATCH EVERY MARVEL MOVIE ORR— DAVID SIMON ON THE WIRE AND HIS EQUALLY PISSED-OFF NEW SHOW, THE PLOT AGAST AMERI— BEYOND TIGER KG: 8 TE-CRIME DOCUMENTARI THAT SPARKED A SEND LOOK FROM THE LAW— DOWNTON ABBEY’S JULIAN FELLOW ON HIS NEW SERI AND THE BETY OF A SCHEMG WOMAN— ALL THE NEW 2020 MOVI STREAMG EARLY BEE OF CORONAVIS— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE NOTOR RIVALRY OF HEDDA HOPPER AND LOUELLA PARSONS, HOLLYWOOD’S DUELG GOSSIP COLUMNISTSLOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.MOST POPULAROUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALLFLORENCE PUGH SAYS CHRISTOPHER NOLAN “APOLOGIZED” FOR HER SMALL OPPENHEIMER ROLEBY SAVANNAH WALSHTHE GILD AGE WILL GET A LOT MORE OPERATIC SEASON 2BY RICHARD LAWSONJULIE MILLER
• ‘VOYR’ REVIEW: NETFLIX’S DEVIANT GAY TALE DOC CAN’T DECI WHAT WANTS TO LOOK AT

NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY

Which didn’t stop burly Hler nfidante and head of the Nazi SA paraary wg Ernst Röhm, a not-terribly-closeted gay man, om equentg the tablishment.

As the film explas, the SA had a strong homoerotic element, a disgt wh women and femy they somehow ed to jtify homosexualy – for a time, anyway.

At a certa pot, Röhm’s iendship wh Hler uld only take him so far a Nazi regime creasgly set on eraditg homosexualy. Röhm is but one player this ncise, ftly told doc that the Eldorado as a lnchg pad to a broar story about beg gay Nazi Germany.

10 GAY DOCUMENTARI ON NETFLIX STREAMG

The film never out and yells , but is also a remr of the Fal Solutn tenor that still acpani much anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric and, creasgly, policy.

He was also a bohemian spir who had a passnate homosexual relatnship wh Manasse Herbst, a Galician Jewish actor who fled Germany 1936. Hirschfeld, a groundbreakg sexologist, both gay and Jewish and therefore a prime target of Nazi Germany, was thankfully not prent when his stute was ransacked by mardg Nazi youth (here aga, there are photos).

Here we experience the nce that thrived before the fall, at a hiaway for those whose differenc would soon mark them for prison, exile, or, many s, ath ( is timated that between 5, 000 and 15, 000 gay people died the ncentratn mps for vlatg Paragraph 175). And if you want to stay rmed about everythg jog Netflix every week, subscribe to the Streamle Sub Jeong/HuffPostStreamle“All My Fay” (2019)Premise: The filmmaker Hao Wu is a gay, Che immigrant to the U. Johnson, a genr-nonnformg gay liberatn activist who had a proment role the Stonewall uprisg of 1969, a semal moment the fight for LGBTQ rights.

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

But when the AIDS epimic veloped, the uple offered support to the gay muny and took on a more activist Mason, the dghter of the owners, wrote and directed the documentary.

Vo: “This documentary explor the life and work of activist Vo Rso, who wrote The Celluloid Closet, which exam movie portrayals of homosexuals. We Were Here: “The AIDS crisis forever changed gay culture San Francis, as examed this documentary that trac the disease’s impact on five dividuals. Outrage: “Director Kirby Dick expos the hypocrisy of gay policians who publicly cricize the LGBT muny while hidg their own sexual orientatn.

Call Me Kuchu: “This powerful film follows David Kato, the first openly homosexual man Uganda, as he fights the natn’s loomg anti-gay laws. Tellg the story of Karen and Barry Mason and their unual source of e — the famo Wt Hollywood gay pornography book and vio shop which shar the documentary's name — Circ of Books be so much more than jt an oddball fay portra amid surprisg circumstanc.

NETFLIX’S HOLLYWOOD: THE TE STORY OF STTY BOWERS, REAL-LIFE L.A. PIMPRYAN MURPHY’S NEW NETFLIX SERI IS SET LARGELY AT A GAS STATN BASED ON THE REAL-LIFE ONE N BY HOLLYWOOD PIMP STTY BOWERS.BY JULIE MILLERAPRIL 30, 2020STTY BOWERS AT THE ABBEY WT HOLLYWOOD ON JULY 25, 2018.BY TASIA WELLS/GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVETWO YEARS AGO, STTY BOWERS—THE LOS ANGEL HTLER WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE HOOKED OLD HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS UP WH WILLG SEXUAL PARTNERS, GAY AND STRAIGHT—WAS THE SUBJECT OF A FASCATG DOCUMENTARY, STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. IN , THE WORLD WAR II VETERAN TURNED PIMP DISHED ON THE ALLEGED SECRET SEX LIV OF KATHARE HEPBURN, SPENCER TRACY, CARY GRANT, ROCK HUDSON, CHARL LGHTON, RAYMOND BURR, VCENT PRICE, COLE PORTER, AND VIVIEN LEIGH, AS WELL AS THE LEGENDARY GAS STATN—ON THE RNER OF NORTH VAN NS AVENUE AND HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD—WHERE HE AND HIS LIBERATED IENDS, MALE AND FEMALE, SERVICED MANY OF THEIR A-LIST CLIENTELE. RYAN MURPHY’S LATT NETFLIX SERI, HOLLYWOOD, A FICTNALIZED HOMAGE TO 1940S HOLLYWOOD, PAYS TRIBUTE TO BOWERS BY FEATURG S OWN GAS STATN AND CHARISMATIC PIMP (ERNIE, PLAYED BY DYLAN MCDERMOTT).THE REAL-LIFE BOWERS CLAIMED HE WAS WORKG AS A GAS STATN ATTENDANT AT AGE 23, SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR, WHEN ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON PULLED UP AND ASKED BOWERS TO HOP TO HIS R. IN HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, BOWERS RATNALIZED THAT HOOKG UP WH CELEBRI FOR $20 WAS EASY, LUCRATIVE WORK. AS PIDGEON SPREAD WORD ABOUT HIS REPUTATN, BOWERS SAID, THE PIMP EXPAND HIS OPERATN—SETTG UP TWO KG BEDS A PARKED TRAILER AND ENLISTG GOOD-LOOKG MEN AND WOMEN TO HELP HIS SECRETIVE E. AMONG BOWERS’S RACIT CLAIMS: THAT HE TRODUCED KATHARE HEPBURN TO 150 WOMEN OVER SEVERAL S; THAT HE SET UP CARY GRANT WH AN EARLY-REER ROCK HUDSON; AND THAT HE PROCURED SEXUAL PARTNERS FOR WALLIS SIMPSON AND EDWARD VIII. BOWERS ALSO SAID HE SLEPT WH BOTH SPENCER TRACY AND VIVIEN LEIGH; HAD A THREE-WAY WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER; HAD A THREOME WH CARY GRANT AND HIS ALLEGED LOVER, RANDOLPH STT; AND CLAIMED THAT HIS SEX LIFE WAS SO UNHIBED THAT SURPRISED EVEN SEXOLOGIST ALED KSEY.IN HIS 2012 MEMOIR, WRTEN WH LNEL FRIEDBERG, BOWERS WROTE, “I WAS SETTG UP AN AVERAGE OF 15-20 TRICKS A DAY. THIS WAS A 24/7 OPERATN, EXTENDG OVER A PERD OF, SAY, 30 TO 40 YEARS. AS FOR TRICKS THAT I PERFORMED PERSONALLY, I WAS OFTEN SEEG TWO OR THREE PEOPLE A DAY.”PRR TO HIS MEMOIR, BOWERS WAS FASTIDLY DISCREET. HE NEVER KEPT A BLACK BOOK OF CLIENT NAM, REFG TO SPEAK ABOUT HIS FAMO CLIENTS UNTIL AFTER THEY DIED. HOMOSEXUALY WAS NOT LEGALIZED CALIFORNIA UNTIL THE 1970S; BOWERS’S OPERATN ALLEGEDLY HELPED UNTLS MEN AND WOMEN DULGE SEXUALLY WHOUT ENDANGERG THEIR REERS, REPUTATNS, OR, SOME S, MARRIAG.“THERE ALWAYS WILL BE SECRET LIFE HAPPENG,” BOWERS TOLD THE GUARDIAN 2018. “PEOPLE SHOULD DO WHAT PLEAS THEM AND THE OTHER PERSON—SOME PEOPLE JT PLEASE MORE THAN A FEW.”IN AN TERVIEW WH VANY FAIR, DYLAN MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HIS CHARACTER WAS CERTALY SPIRED BY BOWERS—BUT ALSO BY CLARK GABLE’S CHARACTER THE 1961 FILM THE MISFS. “I HAVE A POSTER OF THE MISFS STG MY BATHROOM AND LOOK AT EVERY DAY,” MCDERMOTT SAID, CG GABLE’S MTACHED AGG PLAYBOY AS A “ME” FOR ERNIE. “THERE WAS A CERTA QUALY HIM I WANTED. HIS HAIR, HIS MTACHE, THE WAY HE RRIED HIMSELF, AND HIS OPTIMISM, IF YOU WILL. IF STTY BOWERS AND CLARK GABLE HAD A LOVE CHILD, WOULD BE ERNIE.”DYLAN MCDERMOTT (LEFT) HOLLYWOOD MOLED THE CHARACTER'S LOOK AFTER CLARK GABLE'S THE MISFS (SET).LEFT, URTY OF NETFLIX; RIGHT, OM THE EVERETT COLLECTN.MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HE LOVED THE NTRADICTNS OF HIS CHARACTER. SURE, ERNIE IS A PIMP—BUT HE’S ALSO A SEXUALLY LIBERATED AND TOLERANT GUY WHO TAK RE OF HIS WORKERS AND FACILAT SATISFYG SEX FOR HIS CLIENTS A REPRSED ERA. “YOU’RE EXPECTG ERNIE TO EXPLO THE GUYS…BUT THE GREAT TWIST ON THE CHARACTER IS THAT HE’S NOT EXPLOG THEM. HE ACTUALLY LOV THE GUYS AND TAK RE OF THEM,” THE ACTOR POTED OUT.DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER—WHO IS ALSO A FORMER VANY FAIR WRER AND EDOR—HAS SCRIBED BOWERS G SIAR TERMS. AFTER SPEAKG TO SOME OF THE MEN WHO WORKED FOR BOWERS, TYRNER TOLD BUZZFEED THAT THEY SEEMED TO BE “HAPPY HOOKERS.… IT SEEMED TO BE VERY OL WH EVERYBODY WHO I TALKED TO.… THIS SEEMED TO BE HIGHLY NSENSUAL. AND NO ONE SEEMED TO HAVE A PROBLEM, WHETHER THEY WERE GAY, STRAIGHT, OR OTHERWISE, WH WHAT STTY WAS ASKG.”SPEAKG TO VANY FAIR EARLIER THIS YEAR, MURPHY SAID HE ED THE GAS STATN AS THE BACKDROP OF HIS SERI BEE HE WAS FASCATED BY THE FACT THAT “THERE WAS A MOMENT WHERE PEOPLE HAD TO GO TO THIS GAS STATN TO BE THEMSELV, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR SEXUALY, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR FANTASY.” AND THAT’S APPARENTLY JT WHAT BOWERS TEND. IN A 2012 TERVIEW, THE HTLER SAID THAT HE NEVER JUDGED HIS CLIENTELE. “SO THEY LIKED SEX HOW THEY LIKED ,” HE TOLD THE NEW YORK TIM. “WHO R?”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— BEHOLD DUNE: AN EXCLIVE LOOK AT TIMOTHéE CHALAMET, ZENDAYA, OSR ISAAC, AND MORE— HOW TO WATCH EVERY MARVEL MOVIE ORR— DAVID SIMON ON THE WIRE AND HIS EQUALLY PISSED-OFF NEW SHOW, THE PLOT AGAST AMERI— BEYOND TIGER KG: 8 TE-CRIME DOCUMENTARI THAT SPARKED A SEND LOOK FROM THE LAW— DOWNTON ABBEY’S JULIAN FELLOW ON HIS NEW SERI AND THE BETY OF A SCHEMG WOMAN— ALL THE NEW 2020 MOVI STREAMG EARLY BEE OF CORONAVIS— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE NOTOR RIVALRY OF HEDDA HOPPER AND LOUELLA PARSONS, HOLLYWOOD’S DUELG GOSSIP COLUMNISTSLOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.MOST POPULAROUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALLFLORENCE PUGH SAYS CHRISTOPHER NOLAN “APOLOGIZED” FOR HER SMALL OPPENHEIMER ROLEBY SAVANNAH WALSHTHE GILD AGE WILL GET A LOT MORE OPERATIC SEASON 2BY RICHARD LAWSONJULIE MILLER

Produced by Ilene Chaiken, -creator of the televisn seri The L Word, the film prents a personal look at many of the stggl faced by gay Amerins the 21st century, as vout relig lears and muny members prott the subjects’ marriag and unns.

‘VOYR’ REVIEW: NETFLIX’S DEVIANT GAY TALE DOC CAN’T DECI WHAT WANTS TO LOOK AT

The Emmy-wng documentary Before Stonewall explor the gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr muny prr to Stonewall, analyzg the begngs of an era of activism. This documentary prents some lser-known moments om history while monstratg how Amerin attus towards homosexualy evolved leadg up to and after Stonewall. 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.