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

Contents:

• TEXAS FAY TRI TO RCUE LGBT TEEN FROM ‘PRAY THE GAY AWAY’ CAMP
• TEXAS TEEN SENT TO 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CHRISTIAN MP BY PARENTS BY LREN ABRAM PUBLISHED JUNE 8, 2016 NEWS FOX 13 TAMPA BAY SHARE COPY LK EMAIL FACEBOOK TWTER LKEDIN REDD ARTICLE PHOTO: GOFUNDME SAN ANTONIO (FOX 26) - A 17-YEAR-OLD GIRL HAS BEEN SENT AWAY BY HER PARENTS TO A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CHRISTIAN MP EAST TEXAS. NOW OTHER FAY MEMBERS ARE ATTEMPTG TO RAISE MONEY TO SUE FOR HER EEDOM.  OVER THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 4, A GOFUNDME PAGE TLED 'SAVE SARAH' WAS SET UP FOR THE TEEN BY HER JOEY JORDAN, AN ACTOR WHO PLAYS WN SCHOTT ON THE SHOW 'SUPERGIRL'--AND STAT THAT HER PARENTS "BELIEVE THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS A S AND ABNORMAL", AND THAT SARAH WAS SENT AWAY AGAST HER WILL TO THE FACILY FOR TROUBLED TEENS TO 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY.'" THE REALIZATN OF SARAH'S SEXUALY DREW HER PARENTS' ATTENTN WHEN WAS TIME TO GO TO PROM, AND SARAH ELECTED TO TAKE HER GIRLIEND.  JORDAN STAT THAT "STEAD OF PREPARG FOR LLEGE AND PETG THE STATE BATE TOURNAMENT, SHE’LL BE DOG FORCED LABOR EVERY DAY AND ENDURG BIBLE-BASED 'THERAPY' FOR HER 'DISEASE.'" “I N'T BELIEVE BETIFUL, SMART, CREDIBLE KIDS LIKE MY SARAH ARE STILL BEG TOLD THAT BEG GAY IS WRONG,” JORDAN, 31, WROTE ON FACEBOOK. “BUT 'S WORSE THAN THAT FOR SARAH ... SHE'S BEEN PLACED AT A REMOTE BOARDG FACILY TO HELP ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ FOR A YEAR WH NO MUNITN TO THE OUTSI WORLD.” THE REMAG FAY MEMBERS HAVE HIRED A WELL-KNOWN AT-BASED LAW ATTORNEY WH A LOT OF EXPERIENCE LIGATG LGBT ISSU. THE FAY CLAIMS THAT THE MONEY RAISED BY THE GOFUNDME PAGE WILL BE ED TO PAY FOR ATTORNEY FE. RELATIV SAY THAT THEY ARE A HURRY TO EE SARAH OM THE MP BEE SHE'S SENTIALLY CUT OFF OM THE OUTSI WORLD.  LIKE MANY YOUTH MPS, SARAH IS "NOT ALLOWED PHONE LLS OR EMAIL OR ANY FORM OF PUTER MUNITN." SHE IS ALSO NOT ALLOWED VISORS AND NNOT LEAVE THE PROPERTY. SARAH ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO N AWAY OM THE MP, BUT WAS UGHT BEFORE LEAVG THE PROPERTY.  THE GOFUNDME PAGE HAS SUPPORTERS THAT HAVE E TOGETHER TO RAISE MORE THAT $46,000. DAILY NEWSLETTER
• TEXAS TEEN SENT TO 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CHRISTIAN MP BY PARENTS
• RELATIV LOOK TO EE TEEN WHO WAS SENT TO ALLEGED 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' MP
• PRAYER AND PA: WHY GAY NVERSN THERAPY IS STILL LEGAL SPE DANGERS
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ HAS GONE AWAY. WHY ARE GOVERNMENTS TRYG TO STOP IT?
• THIS TEENAGER HAS BEEN FORCED TO A GAY NVERSN MP WH NO PE
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• 'WE DON'T NEED FIXG': TEXAS BAT BAN ON GAY NVERSN THERAPY FOR KIDS
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRAY THE GAY AWAY?

TEXAS FAY TRI TO RCUE LGBT TEEN FROM ‘PRAY THE GAY AWAY’ CAMP

A Texas fay wants to help get a 17-year-old LGBT relative out of a nservative Christian mp that aims to “pray away the gay, ” acrdg to the “Save Sarah” GoFundMe page set up by “Joey Jordan, ” who says the teen is a . Article SAN ANTONIO (FOX 26) - A 17-year-old girl has been sent away by her parents to a 'pray away the gay' Christian mp East Texas.

Over the weekend of June 4, a GoFundMe page tled 'Save Sarah' was set up for the teen by her Joey Jordan, an actor who plays Wn Schott on the show 'Supergirl'--and stat that her parents "believe that homosexualy is a s and abnormal", and that Sarah was sent away agast her will to the facily for troubled teens to 'pray away the gay.

TEXAS TEEN SENT TO 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CHRISTIAN MP BY PARENTS BY LREN ABRAM PUBLISHED JUNE 8, 2016 NEWS FOX 13 TAMPA BAY SHARE COPY LK EMAIL FACEBOOK TWTER LKEDIN REDD ARTICLE PHOTO: GOFUNDME SAN ANTONIO (FOX 26) - A 17-YEAR-OLD GIRL HAS BEEN SENT AWAY BY HER PARENTS TO A 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CHRISTIAN MP EAST TEXAS. NOW OTHER FAY MEMBERS ARE ATTEMPTG TO RAISE MONEY TO SUE FOR HER EEDOM.  OVER THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 4, A GOFUNDME PAGE TLED 'SAVE SARAH' WAS SET UP FOR THE TEEN BY HER JOEY JORDAN, AN ACTOR WHO PLAYS WN SCHOTT ON THE SHOW 'SUPERGIRL'--AND STAT THAT HER PARENTS "BELIEVE THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS A S AND ABNORMAL", AND THAT SARAH WAS SENT AWAY AGAST HER WILL TO THE FACILY FOR TROUBLED TEENS TO 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY.'" THE REALIZATN OF SARAH'S SEXUALY DREW HER PARENTS' ATTENTN WHEN WAS TIME TO GO TO PROM, AND SARAH ELECTED TO TAKE HER GIRLIEND.  JORDAN STAT THAT "STEAD OF PREPARG FOR LLEGE AND PETG THE STATE BATE TOURNAMENT, SHE’LL BE DOG FORCED LABOR EVERY DAY AND ENDURG BIBLE-BASED 'THERAPY' FOR HER 'DISEASE.'" “I N'T BELIEVE BETIFUL, SMART, CREDIBLE KIDS LIKE MY SARAH ARE STILL BEG TOLD THAT BEG GAY IS WRONG,” JORDAN, 31, WROTE ON FACEBOOK. “BUT 'S WORSE THAN THAT FOR SARAH ... SHE'S BEEN PLACED AT A REMOTE BOARDG FACILY TO HELP ‘PRAY AWAY THE GAY’ FOR A YEAR WH NO MUNITN TO THE OUTSI WORLD.” THE REMAG FAY MEMBERS HAVE HIRED A WELL-KNOWN AT-BASED LAW ATTORNEY WH A LOT OF EXPERIENCE LIGATG LGBT ISSU. THE FAY CLAIMS THAT THE MONEY RAISED BY THE GOFUNDME PAGE WILL BE ED TO PAY FOR ATTORNEY FE. RELATIV SAY THAT THEY ARE A HURRY TO EE SARAH OM THE MP BEE SHE'S SENTIALLY CUT OFF OM THE OUTSI WORLD.  LIKE MANY YOUTH MPS, SARAH IS "NOT ALLOWED PHONE LLS OR EMAIL OR ANY FORM OF PUTER MUNITN." SHE IS ALSO NOT ALLOWED VISORS AND NNOT LEAVE THE PROPERTY. SARAH ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO N AWAY OM THE MP, BUT WAS UGHT BEFORE LEAVG THE PROPERTY.  THE GOFUNDME PAGE HAS SUPPORTERS THAT HAVE E TOGETHER TO RAISE MORE THAT $46,000. DAILY NEWSLETTER

'" “I n't believe betiful, smart, credible kids like my Sarah are still beg told that beg gay is wrong, ” Jordan, 31, wrote on Facebook. Over the weekend of June 4, a GoFundMe page tled 'Save Sarah' was set up for the teen by her Joey Jordan, an actor who plays Wn Schott on the show 'Supergirl'--and stat that her parents "believe that homosexualy is a s and abnormal", and that Sarah was sent away agast her will to the facily for troubled teens to 'pray away the gay.

'" "I n't believe betiful, smart, credible kids like my Sarah are still beg told that beg gay is wrong, " Jordan, 31, wrote on Facebook. A 17-year-old girl whose parents sent her to an alleged "pray away the gay" Christian boardg school Texas is the subject of an onle fundraiser by relativ attemptg to 'save' the girl om the program.

Jordan said Sarah’s parents “believe that homosexualy is a s and is abnormal, ” and that Sarah was sent agast her will to the school bee she wanted to take a girl to her high school Sarah's mom told The At Amerin-Statman that Heartlight Mistri do not perform so-lled "gay nversn therapy" and she did not send her dghter to the school on May 13 bee of "her sexualy.

TEXAS TEEN SENT TO 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' CHRISTIAN MP BY PARENTS

"The webse do not label Heartland as an anti-gay or "pray away the gay" school, though do have some referenc to a qutn-and-answer sectn, a parent asks what he should do after his llege-aged son told him he was gay. “I n't believe betiful, smart, credible kids like my Sarah are still beg told that beg gay is wrong, ” Jordan wrote a Facebook post. ”Conversn therapy, also known as reparative or ex-gay therapy, has been wily discreded as uhil and effective but persists many parts of the untry, ually through church, and is a battleground issue for gay rights mpaigners and those who argue that banng would curtail relig some nservativ seek to ph back agast recent advanc rights for gay and transgenr people, a move is unr way to add an implicly pro-nversn therapy plank to the Republin party platform that will be approved at s nventn Cleveland next Christopher, the Texas-born thor of Hidg om Myself, a memoir about his experience wh nversn therapy, said the GOP’s platform plans are “very troublg.

RELATIV LOOK TO EE TEEN WHO WAS SENT TO ALLEGED 'PRAY AWAY THE GAY' MP

I thk ’s a backlash om gay marriage and gay rights and gay equaly, they’re really doublg down and the ‘ex-gay’ platform is one of their ways of rollg back, ” he said. Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/RtersLast month a California urt heard a challenge om a mister to the state’s first--the-natn ban (enacted 2012 and effective 2014) on licensed therapists attemptg to change the sexual orientatn of practice gaed h attentn June when a GoFundMe page was set up to raise legal fe to extrite Sarah, a 17-year-old, om a “pray away the gay” mp east Texas where she was allegedly sent by her parents agast her “Save Sarah” mpaign raised $64, 218. It really do take a toll on you, ” he rells a boot-mp type weekend at a retreat about an hour om Dallas where participants unrwent tense physil activy, “then they really try to break you down emotnally, ” that was particularly tough and ed him to qutn not only whether he uld change, but whether he should want bizarre and paful experienc turned him away om the procs, he said, as did beg iends wh a gay man who was happy after takg the ntrastg path of g out and acceptg his a relig hoehold, Sean Sala, 31, said he was his late teens when he went to Livg Hope, an “ex-gay” mistry the Dallas regn then affiliated wh Exod Internatnal, a work which shut down 2013 and apologised for directg “years of undue judgment” at the gay muny.

”Asked if he believed some of the people he has worked wh have changed om beg gay to straight, Chelette said: “If you mean by ‘straight’ they’re no longer dog the gay practic that they may have been dog before as hookg up wh people or havg sex wh other people of the same genr, y, we’ve had people that have done that. “The practice is based on the false premise that beg lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr (‘LGBT’) is a mental illns or disorr ed by a velopmental ficiency, trma, and/or unmet emotnal needs, ” the plat stat. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty ImagLast year a group lled Jews Offerg New Alternativ for Healg was orred to pay $72, 400 damag to former clients after a New Jersey jury cid mted nsumer d when claimed gay people uld be “cured” through methods cludg tellg participants to beat an effigy of their mother wh a tennis racquet and strippg naked group ssns.

In the face of growg opposn to the practice and recent advanc for LGBT rights, the Texas Republin party has reerated s support for nversn therapy and s opposn to gay Texas GOP signalled s backg for nversn therapy by scribg as legimate and efficient a plank of s 2014 platform and re-affirmg s latt manifto, adopted by party members lls for overturng last year’s US supreme urt cisn legalisg same-sex marriage natnwi and stat: “No laws or executive orrs shall be imposed to lim or rtrict accs to sexual orientatn change efforts for self-motivated youth and adults. ”It also says that “Homosexualy is a chosen behavr that is ntrary to the fundamental unchangg tths that has [sic] been ordaed by God the Bible, regnized by our natns [sic] founrs, and shared by the majory of Texans.

PRAYER AND PA: WHY GAY NVERSN THERAPY IS STILL LEGAL SPE DANGERS

”Nbt believ that the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub Florida last month adds urgency to efforts to end a practice found on the ia that beg gay is a form of sickns. The realy is that I’d known I was gay sce I was probably ten years old, ’s not somethg I chose, ’s not somethg that was veloped out of some terrible event my childhood, ’s jt another part of my personaly, jt another part of who I am. SAN ANTONIO (FOX 26) - A 17-year-old girl has been sent away by her parents to a 'pray away the gay' Christian mp East Texas.

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

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.

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. Stat, nversn therapy remas enmic many nservative, relig muni—and as Pray Away documents, is groundg a new generatn of believers s rhetoric as part of larger culture wars beg waged over gay and trans rights.

But many of the movement’s early lears and figureheads have sce rented; many s g out (or back out) as gay and speakg out about the harm they experienced—and that they ed.

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

This was also a product of [his] havg grown up a homophobic and transphobic environment, both terms of the world he was raised , but also specifilly the relig worldview.

THIS TEENAGER HAS BEEN FORCED TO A GAY NVERSN MP WH NO PE

Many of the subjects Pray Away discs their experience the ex-gay movement, at least retrospect, as not changg their sexualy as much as enuragg them to supprs . One thg I’ve learned om spendg time this world is, let’s say, [when you’re part of] a fah muny that’s homophobic or transphobic and you fd a Bible study group or a nversn therapy support group happeng at your church—that may actually be the first time you feel any fort, sharg any part of your inty. As well as tellg the stori of a number of the ex-gay movement’s former lears, Pray Away featur the activist Jefey McCall, who se himself as both an ex-gay and ex-trans dividual.

The anti-trans sentiment that we’re seeg build our world is fely a ntuatn of the ex-gay movement and the nversn therapy movement. My uncle went through hell; I was very prepared to make a film about straight, homophobic people makg LGBTQ people hate themselv—but that’s not what I found. Our re creative team [workg on the documentary] was prised of people wh a direct relatnship to the issu: gay and trans nversn therapy survivors, queer people who grew up evangelil.

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

Do you see the ex-gay movement as ever “dyg out, ” as Yvette Cantu Schneir, prevly an ex-gay lear and policy analyst wh the anti-gay Fay Rearch Council, puts at one pot?

'WE DON'T NEED FIXG': TEXAS BAT BAN ON GAY NVERSN THERAPY FOR KIDS

The fact is that many church might stay they’re agast nversn therapy, but if a trans kid or a gay kid to their pastor, the silence n be afeng.

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?

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.

’ Photograph: NetflixThat “eedom” (om beg gay) is still one found nial, rejectn, a basele belief that anythg other than straight is broken and sful. “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.