8 Gay Conversn Therapy Survivors on Cameron Post

Contents:

• TERRIFYG PHOTOS RECREATE THE HORRORS OF GAY 'CONVERSN THERAPY' CENTERS
• 8 PEOPLE ON SURVIVG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN TO CONVERSN THERAPY ARE SHARG THEIR TRMATIC STORI, AND IT'S A REMR WHY IT NEEDS TO BE ABOLISHED
• IS RUDY GAY A GOOD F?
• 'THE MISTN OF CAMERON POST' SHOWS THE DANGERS OF "GAY CONVERSN" CAMPS
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS
• MOSW: GAY MOSW
• 5 THGS I LEARNED AT A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CAMP
• THEY/THEM REVIEW: A SLASHER GO TO GAY CONVERSN CAMP CLEVER HORROR MOVIE
• MOSW GAY MAP
• DIRECTOR OF QUEER CLASSIC 'BUT I'M A CHEERLEAR' WANTED TO 'MAKE A GAY "CLUELS"'

TERRIFYG PHOTOS RECREATE THE HORRORS OF GAY 'CONVERSN THERAPY' CENTERS

A new llectn of photos is providg a strikg ― and horrifyg ― visual recreatn of the barbaric practice of gay “nversn therapy” and the impact has on s victims.

Photographer Paola Pares first learned of the “Clis Dhomosexualizacn” her home untry of Ecuador four years ago om a iend. After pletg a project lled “Unveiled” that documented her own g out procs ― cludg filmg herself wh three meras as she me out to her parents ― Pares cid the foc of her next work would be on the gay “nversn therapy” clics. We want to sign an tnal mpaign that centers around teachg people about homosexually, LGBT rights, genr inty and human rights.

”Check out more imag om “Until You Change” throughout this article and learn more about the photographer’s relatnship wh the victims of the gay “nversn therapy” clics and what she hop the impact of this project will be by readg our terview wh Pares Pares PhotographyHuffPost: What spired the project?

8 PEOPLE ON SURVIVG GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

” I sat my parents down for a nversatn and told them I was gay ont of three meras – a pletely surreal and liberatg experience. From “Unveiled” I had a lot of gay men and women ntact me around the world to thank me for sharg such an timate moment wh the world. Gay and Lbian Mental Health 291 (2010); Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroer, Changg Sexual Orientatn: A Consumer’s Report, 33 Prof.

rponse to a Generatns qutn that asked if they were lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or same-genr lovg, if they were the age and. For timat of the proportn of youth who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual see Lra Kann et al., Sexual Inty, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Related Behavrs among Stunts Gras 9-12 – Uned Stat and Selected S, 2015 (2016).

Psychodynamics Study of Lbianism 299 (1954); Irvg Bieber et al., Homosexualy: A Psychoanalytic Study (1962); Jolan Jabi, Case. Participants Reportg a Change om Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientatn, 32 Archiv of Sexual Behavr 403 (2003)’l Ctr.

GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN TO CONVERSN THERAPY ARE SHARG THEIR TRMATIC STORI, AND IT'S A REMR WHY IT NEEDS TO BE ABOLISHED

991 Health Care Needs of the Homosexual Populatn, /liverg-re/polici-lbian-gay-bisexual-transgenr-queer-lgbtq-issu (last vised Dec.

On Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Issu, Posn Statement: Sexual Orientatn Change Efforts (SOCE) and Conversn Therapy wh Lbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgenr Persons (2015), Release, Am. 8, 2017), Kaplan, Polil Climate Forest for Florida 2018 Looks Posive for John Man, Negative for Gay Conversn Therapy,.

IS RUDY GAY A GOOD F?

6, 2018), Marketg, Virgia Electn Poll (May 26, 2017), poll052016/ Moore, Only 8% of Amerins Thk Gay Conversn Therapy Works,, June 12, 2014, news/2014/06/12/gay-nversn-therapy/ B. Also known as “reparative” or “ex-gay” therapy, the programs e var forms of psychologil manipulatn, and sometim physil abe, to nont “same-sex attractns, ” or “SSA’s.

Diree Akhvan’s The Mistn of Cameron Post (adapted om the novel by Ey Danforth), out now, follows a young gay woman named Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is sent away to a gay nversn mp the mid-1990s, where the close iendships she forms wh the other participants serve as a rpe om the ongog psychologil torments flicted upon her. There was one really abive act, where three misters held me down for six and a half hours and were screamg my face, tryg to get the gayns out of me.

Well, there is this thg lled gaydar …” — some parts of the church believe gaydar is the abily to see a mon another person. Like the movie, there’s this whole iceberg scene [about disverg the “” of one’s homosexualy] and the girl the movie mocked . So, the day after I’d go to [nversn therapy] I’d bury myself the perdil sectn of the library and read articl about homosexualy and the more of those articl that I read, the broar perspective that I got.

'THE MISTN OF CAMERON POST' SHOWS THE DANGERS OF "GAY CONVERSN" CAMPS

I gus now I intify as gay, and I fely believe there’s no changg that, and even if there was I don’t know that you should. I had been raised to believe that beg gay is horrible and terrible and awful and sful, and you’re gog to go to Hell. And of urse that marriage got dicey — I end up ex-gay therapy at the referral of a pastor at about the age of 37, 38.

By then I had stopped seeg myself as “unwanted same-sex attracted” and started seeg myself as more of what I would ll “gay si B, ” chaste and celibate. For a while I intified as a gay Christian, but I was still such nservative circl that I sort of tried to do this thg that’s gag some tractn publicly where you acknowledge that you’re gay and Christian but you’re mted to lifelong celibacy and sglens. It was sort of ial for them bee they uld hire a gay person but you uld still sign their statement of fah and muny venants.

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

But we live a heteronormative culture which rults many gay and queer people beg sent to nversn therapy or choosg to go themselv.

On the send or third day I was given some, hdsight, credibly lghable gay eroti and was allowed to return to my room. I was motivated by Bible College teachgs whose founr was secretly groomg and sexually harassg his younger youth mister and employee to a homosexual relatnship while teachg and preachg the 'Sun' of homosexualy. I went to a seri of speech geared toward the youth of the church where one speaker talked about how watchg porn would lead you down an evable path that ends by you beg a homosexual and then a child molter (which obvly isn't te).

I was told that sexualy was a s, specifilly, homosexualy was a s the same tegory as murr bee perverted the tools for the creatn and stctn of life. I remember specifilly there was a strong attempt to try and nnect gay thoughts to jail time my head, that msed wh me for a ltle.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

In some class, they would rip to homosexualy alongsi thgs like pedophilia and necrophilia as all beg somewhat equally horrific. Homosexualy was seen as beg even worse than necrophilia bee was someone else beg 'tricked' and 'asslted' by someone who claimed to re. They believed and tght that homosexuals were scum for beg so selfish and so nceed to thk they had the right to steal the nocence of someone else by makg them go to hell.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS

Even worse, they said gay people force themselv on someone else bee there is no way TWO adults n nsent to sex if they are the same genr.

I was part of an onle muny of other gay people tryg to nvert, and some of the people that muny claimed to have succsfully nverted. My parents thought was fe that I was gay (my mom more so than my dad) and didn't want to take me to a Christian unselor, but I was adamant. His procs was based on the ia that I was gay bee my relatnship wh my dad was aquate and bee I hadn't been affirmed my masculy when I was younger.

And fally, "I went to a 'special psychologist' or 'psychiatrist, ' but he was a 'former gay man' who had sce turned his life over to God.

MOSW: GAY MOSW

I was mostly dog this to appease my parents, as they were unr the imprsn beg gay (well, bisexual my se) was a choice, and that I uld change if I wanted to.

One such piece — and a highly-predictable one, at that — is veteran forward Rudy Gay, who was recently waived by the Oklahoma Cy Thunr, after beg ed as filler two different offseason tras: first when the Utah Jazz shipped him to the Atlanta Hawks the John Colls al, and then when the Hawks sent him to the Thunr the Patty Mills tra.

Dpe beg a 17-year veteran — he was drafted one year after Chris Pl, and one pick ahead of Patrick O’Bryant — Gay has never shared an NBA locker room wh any Warrrs. Not only have they played (and ached) agast him for years, but Gay was teammat wh Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on the Team USA squad that won gold at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, and also teammat wh Curry (and Andre Iguodala) on the gold medal-wng 2010 team.

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

Perhaps most importantly, Gay spent four seasons — four recent seasons, crilly — playg for the San Anton Spurs and Steve Kerr’s mentor, Gregg Popovich.

If the Warrrs are terted Gay, you n bet that Kerr and Pop have talked about , and about how he handled the swch om high-volume starter/srer to veteran bench piece. It’s easy to make the se for Gay, sce the Warrrs rotatn seems pretty set as is, wh an 11-player rotatn of Curry, Pl, Thompson, Wiggs, Green, Kumga, Moody, Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II, Dar Šarić, and Cory Joseph.

THEY/THEM REVIEW: A SLASHER GO TO GAY CONVERSN CAMP CLEVER HORROR MOVIE

There’s also a cent chance that Gay go unsigned, and that the Dubs uld brg him to trag mp on a non-guaranteed al to get a better look at him. Pecially among transgenr In some relig practic, homosexualy and other forms of genr exprsn and inty are sometim viewed as “evil. But provirs, ually unlicensed, n often disguise the terms they e to avoid beg terms clu:Sexual attractn fluidy exploratn therapy (SAFE-T)Elimatg, rcg, or creasg equency or tensy of unwanted same-sex attractn (SSA)Reparative therapySexual reorientatn effortsEx-gay mistryPromotg healthy sexualyAddrsg sexual addictns and disorrsSexualy unselgEnuragg relatnal and sexual wholensHealg sexual brokennsConversn therapy techniqu n lead to feelg “ls than” or “damaged, ” impactg self-teem.

A number of medil and mental health anizatns have issued public statements rejectg the e of nversn therapy bee of many provirs who claim to be qualified to provi nversn therapy are often not licensed mental health practners or medil study found that LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or qutng) people who are rejected or discrimated agast are:8 tim more likely to report havg attempted suiciAlmost 6 tim more likely to report high levels of prsnMore than 3 tim as likely to e illegal dgs3 tim more likely to be at high risk of HIV and other STDsAcrdg to rearch, nearly 700, 000 LGBTQ adults the U.

MOSW GAY MAP

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (4-12-1)CAMP SITE: Wtfield, IndianaKEY ADDITIONS: Head ach Shane Steichen, offensive ordator Jim Bob Cooter, QB Anthony Richardson, QB Gardner Mshew, K Matt Gay, DE Samson Ebam, DT Taven Bryan, CB JuJu Brents, WR Josh Downs.

The movie is set 1993, but jt bee tak place 25 years ago do not mean that so-lled "gay nversn" mps don't still exist today.

DIRECTOR OF QUEER CLASSIC 'BUT I'M A CHEERLEAR' WANTED TO 'MAKE A GAY "CLUELS"'

They do, they jt might be harr to the film, Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) is forced to go to God's Promise, a Christian mp that tri to "turn" gay teens straight. In the trailer, Cameron is told, "The first step is for you to stop thkg of yourself as a homosexual, " to which she repli, "But I don't thk of myself as a homosexual.

Stark was a teen boy who gaed attentn 2005 after he posted about his fay planng to send him to "a fundamentalist Christian program for gays" on "gay nversn" — be through a mp or otherwise — still exists today. 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.

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.