The gay csar by Ralph Connor, 1936, Dodd, Mead edn, English
Contents:
- WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
- CAMP CSA FOR CHRIST TEACHG KIDS THAT IT’S OKAY TO BE GAY
- THE GAY CSAR
WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
Greg Qulan, who lls himself an “ex-gay” pastor, announced to the Middletown board that “nobody is born gay. At Manalapan and Marlboro, people who said they were members of Gays Agast Groomers read nearly intil statements on the “sexualizatn” of children by trans people. On Facebook, they’ve reposted Parents Defendg Edutn, which, acrdg to Media Matters, was “found to promote the ongog sre mpaign agast the supposed teachg of ‘cril race theory’ schools”; the Pacific Jtice Instute, which pared same-sex marriage to Nazi fascism and promoted anti-gay nversn therapy; Moms for Liberty, whose members have approvgly quoted Hler (and then fend ) and ma threateng remarks about gunng down librarians; and the Alliance Defendg Freedom, which seeks to recrimalize “homosexualy” and forcibly sterilize trans people.
But I did disver that she quired a nservative Facebook group if anyone had nnectns to Gays Agast Groomers, so she uld brg the anizatn to a school-board meetg. “You know, Mike, I ed to be gay, ” I said.
Mike had explaed to me how he felt he uld never go to church bee he was gay. Lookg back on this enunter, I n see that had all the trappgs of what beme known as the ex-gay movement, of which I was once an eager proponent.
CAMP CSA FOR CHRIST TEACHG KIDS THAT IT’S OKAY TO BE GAY
Most notable is my e of the ex-gay script: “I ed to be gay. ” The phrase implied that I wasn’t gay anymore. I had a ttimony, a story to tell about leavg homosexualy behd.
What ma me ex-gay was that I ed the ex-gay script. I was tryg to nvce myself that I was a straight man wh a disease—a curable one—lled homosexualy.
Alan Medger, the first executive director of Exod Internatnal, scribed as “a change self-perceptn which the dividual no longer intifi him- or herself as homosexual. And, wh my ex-gay amework, I wasn’t lyg; I was claimg my new realy. I was an ex-gay.
THE GAY CSAR
The emergence of Exod Internatnal 1976 had set evangelils on a hopeful path toward curg homosexualy. Founr Frank Worthen explaed, “When we started Exod, the premise was that God uld change you om gay to straight. Recent bat among nservative Anglins and Prbyterians over whether someone n claim a “gay inty” are only the latt round of siar disput that have echoed church rridors for years.
After all, renouncg a homosexual self-perceptn was an sential first step nversn therapy. One effect of this approach was that mandated that non-straight believers hi behd a mask, pretendg to be anythg but gay. Before there was an ex-gay paradigm of cure, there was an olr orthodoxy that clud a Christian paradigm of rg for believers who aren’t straight.
I’ve wonred whether Henri Nouwen had his own homosexualy md when he wrote of the difference between re and cure. In the bgraphy Wound Prophet, Michael Ford documents how Nouwen discsed his experience as a celibate gay man wh his close circle of iends.