In the latt edn of Mrice Benard's State of Md, Christian LeBlanc (Michael, Young and Rtls) out as gay. Way to go!
Contents:
- MY EX-GAY FRIEND
- ‘EX-GAY’ MICHAEL GLATZE SAYS JAM FRAN FILM GAVE HIM ‘NEW LIFE’, APOLOGIZ TO GAY YOUTH: VIDEO
- MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
- WHAT ABOUT EX-EX-GAYS?
- WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
- OUT OF THE DARKNS: CONVERSN THERAPIST QUS ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT
- THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
- YOUNG & RTLS’ CHRISTIAN JUL LEBLANC UNPACKS THE BAGGAGE OF HOMOPHOBIA: ‘I STILL LIVE WH THE LEGACY OF THAT AS A GAY MAN’
MY EX-GAY FRIEND
As a young gay man, Michael Glatze seemed very happy wh who he was. Then he changed his md. * michael ex gay *
Michael Glatze, wrer for the (now shuttered) gay twk magaze XY and the short-lived publitn Young Gay Ameri who went "ex-gay" and beme a poster boy for that movement, marryg a woman 2013, sat down for an terview wh vlogger Jake Reynolds followg the screeng of the new movie, I Am Michael at Sundance. However, there is only one si to the "ex-gay" story, and if the film (which I have not seen but was reviewed by our film cric here) prents beg "ex-gay" as a valid optn life, will certaly do a disservice to all of the young gay people who have been irreparably damaged by so lled "nversn therapy", "ex-gay" mistri, and so on. As time go by, former "ex-gays" and proponents (John Plk, Randy Thomas, Robert Spzer, and Jam Stabile, and more) ntue to e out and reveal that beg "ex-gay" is a damagg, damagg myth.
‘EX-GAY’ MICHAEL GLATZE SAYS JAM FRAN FILM GAVE HIM ‘NEW LIFE’, APOLOGIZ TO GAY YOUTH: VIDEO
Michael Glatze, wrer for the (now shuttered) gay twk magaze XY and the short-lived publitn Young Gay Ameri who went "ex-gay" and beme a poster boy for that movement, marryg a woman 2013, sat down for an terview wh vlogger Jake Reynolds followg the screeng of the new movie, I Am Michael at Sundance. I Am Michael is based on the Beno Denizet-Lewis NYT article "My Ex-Gay Friend". You n read here. Glatze (played by Jam Fran the film) appeared thrilled wh his portrayal and told Reynolds that is a turng pot his life: "Life is startg up aga. It's almost like a new life. I thank Jam Fran for that. I did. I sent an email for him and I said 'thank you so much for your tert this project' bee has been the spark to a gigantic healg procs for so many people my world, and now we n rejo the rt of the world." For those who are not faiar wh Glatze's story this requir a b of ntext. Wayne Ben, founr of Tth Ws Out, an anizatn that has voted much time to exposg the "ex-gay" myth, wrote about Glatze's story 2013: Mr. Glatze worked for XY Magaze and was the -founr of a short-lived LGBT teenie-bopper mag, Young Gay Ameri. Sudnly, he broke up wh his boyiend and had what appeared to be a nervo breakdown, where he had severe panic attacks about dyg. Durg the disturbg episos, he renounced his sexual orientatn and temporarily nverted to Mormonism. Though he had dived to the Mormon fah wh gto, he jt as quixotilly abandoned this fah to bee an outspoken fundamentalist Christian... .. began wrg cendiary op-eds for World Net Daily where he claimed to be “repulsed by homosexualy.” He appeared on Porno Pete LaBarbera’s rad show. However, his time on the “ex-gay” circu was short-lived and he proved to be an petent spokperson. His lumns were so beyond the pale, that he alienated long-time “ex-gay” activists. Eventually, Glatze was dmmed out of the “ex-gay” dtry after a meltdown. His mise me after he wrote a racist rant agast print Barack Obama on his blog... Fran this week reacted to the experience of meetg Glatze for the first time and said that Glatze told him the film was "healg" as well. Fran add: "In a way, we had to show to him we were gog to have a very even-hand, non-judgmental approach, but we also had to say to ourselv, 'We’re not tellg this story jt to make Michael happy, we’re tellg the story to get both sis.' The bt we uld do was say to him, 'We have good tentns. We’re not gog to ccify or judge you but we also need to tell the story om the other si as well as the si you’re on now.'" However, there is only one si to the "ex-gay" story, and if the film (which I have not seen but was reviewed by our film cric here) prents beg "ex-gay" as a valid optn life, will certaly do a disservice to all of the young gay people who have been irreparably damaged by so lled "nversn therapy", "ex-gay" mistri, and so on. As time go by, former "ex-gays" and proponents (John Plk, Randy Thomas, Robert Spzer, and Jam Stabile, and more) ntue to e out and reveal that beg "ex-gay" is a damagg, damagg myth. In the new terview, Glatze is asked what he would say to the gay youth who have said they were hurt and felt betrayed by Glatze's renunciatn of his inty: "I'm sorry, and that is one of the thgs I would say to anyone who has been hurt by any of the words that have e through my mouth or typed out on a puter even through vio is that I'm sorry for any of the pa that I have ed. I lerally feel that and have been alg wh that over the past really three or four years pecially. It has jt been a lot of the procs of healg for me - we've been gog through that together - and jt growg what the Buddhist teacher kd of observed was missg me at that time was there (are) amends to be ma then to make those amends and not offend anyone on eher si. We've got to be very reful wh that." Watch the terview, AFTER THE JUMP... * michael ex gay *
Joseph Nilosi, a clil psychologist California who was then print of the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH), the untry's largt anizatn for practners of ex-gay therapy. I left the office wh a py of Nilosi's most recent book, Healg Homosexualy, and a worksheet that tegorized different emotns unr the brics of "te self" and "false self.
My mother might not have so easily found rmatn about ex-gay therapy had the Christian right not planted this stake the culture ad appeared 23 years after the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn (APA) classified homosexualy as a mental illns. A small group of therapists ntued to practice talk therapy that enuraged patients to see homosexualy as a velopmental disorr, but they remaed on the ge until the Christian right took up their e.
Instead of fire-and-brimstone nunciatns om the pulp, the ex-gay movement allowed the Christian right to uch s nmnatn of homosexualy a way that seemed passnate. Foc on the Fay lled s new ex-gay mistry Love Won Out and talked about healg and rg for ex-gay movement turned the rhetoric of gay rights agast self: Shouldn't ex-gays be able to pursue therapy and live the liv they want whout facg discrimatn? Together wh the late Charl Soris, a psychiatrist who led the opposn to classifyg homosexualy as a mental illns, Nilosi formed NARTH 1992 as a "scientific anizatn that offers hope to those who stggle wh unwanted homosexualy.
MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
While speakg Sgapore at a semar sponsored by Foc on the Fay, I was asked the qutn: What about ex-ex-gays? Do their existence prove that is really impossible for people to change their sexual orientatn? * michael ex gay *
Nilosi remas NARTH's most visible are no reliable statistics for how many patients have received ex-gay treatment or how many therapists practice , but the late 1990s and early 2000s, ex-gay therapy enjoyed a legimacy hadn't sce the APA removed homosexualy om s diagnostic manual.
WHAT ABOUT EX-EX-GAYS?
Read What About Ex-Ex-Gays? om Christian rad mistry The Le of Fire wh Dr. Michael Brown . Study the Bible, learn about J Christ, get Christian livg advice onle. * michael ex gay *
Whether or not the Christian right's alliance wh the ex-gay movement had nstuted a D-Day the culture wars, had succsfully challenged the prevailg ia that the bt choice for gay people was to accept themselv. I read one of Nilosi's books, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexualy, that he tri to posn himself as a supportive father figure, typifyg the sort of relatnship that he believ his patients never had wh their own father. What translated to the larger culture was: The father of the 1973 revolutn the classifitn and treatment of homosexualy, who uld not be seen as jt another biased ex-gay csar wh an agenda, had validated ex-gay therapy.
The need for that evince beme more prsg the early 2000s, when a dre of gay-rights bloggers began to sctize the movement, ready to expose any ht of hypocrisy. Richard Cohen, the founr of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays)-tend as the ex-gay unterpart to PFLAG (Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays)-was expelled om the Amerin Counselg Associatn for ethics vlatns.
WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
Acrdg to Tth Ws Out, Mathon’s fellow ex-gay lear Rich Wyler announced his ex a post to a private Facebook group. TWO “go unrver to expose ‘ex-gay’ nversn lears as hypocril ds that have not actually changed their sexual orientatn,” s webse stat. * michael ex gay *
Among them were Alan Downg, the lead therapist of JONAH (Jews Offerg New Alternativ to Homosexualy), who ma his patients strip and touch themselv ont of a mirror; NARTH member Christopher At, who was nvicted of "unlawfully, tentnally and knowgly [g] peratn of" a client; and Exod-affiliated Mike Jon, who asked a patient to take off his shirt and do ph-ups for movement also suffered several high-profile fectns. " In 2007, Exod -founr Michael Bsee apologized for his role startg the as a rponse to the rurgence of ex-gay therapy, mastream profsnal anizatns also took a harr stance.
The group no longer talks about "Freedom om Homosexualy"-s motto-but about the nobily of ntug to stggle agast same-sex has also begun to distance self om NARTH. But the sprg of my sophomore year, the disparate parts of myself I had managed to hold together-the part of me that thought beg gay was wrong, the part that slept wh men anyway, the part of myself I let the world see, and the part that suffered silence-me undone.
OUT OF THE DARKNS: CONVERSN THERAPIST QUS ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT
* michael ex gay *
While took years of unselg to disabe myself of the ias I had learned while unrgog therapy wh Nilosi, was the first time I enuntered profsnals who were affirmg of my sexualy, and the first time I allowed myself to thk was all right to be gay. He looked like he do his Facebook pictur: solid and short, wh a shaved head and large brown had iated penncy-and-neglect proceedgs agast his parents at age 16 to pe ex-gay therapy. Related | Milk ManFran portrays the real-life Michael Glatze, the former gay activist and wrer for XY Magaze, a now funct gay liftyle publitn that lked two male blogil symbols, one wh an erect arrow potg left, as a logo.
Related | First Look: Jam Fran & Zachary Quto Kiss I Am MichaelKelly has stated "Much of my work exam the prismatic qualy of inty, so when I read Beno [Denizet-Lewis's New York Tim Magaze] article, "My Ex-Gay Friend, " I was at once fascated wh Michael's story. Kelly's prev film was the Brent Corrigan b-pic Kg Cobra which explored the gay porn unrworld, cludg the murr of Bryan Kocis, the porn producer who found the notor Cobra Vio pany. This film's subject might have been better served by gay Christian filmmaker Mark Theiman (Last Summer)'s nfn shows when he mistak the crisis of fah and sexualy for polics.
: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage Search of God Ameri would plete Michael's readg this film's bt scene is problematic: Mike ss a movie theater watchg the Jim Bold doc; he's centered the dience, unr the movie projector's glow jt like the kid Terence Davi' The Long Day Clos.
THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
LGBT issu were important to him, and he ma e of his sexualy some of his bt-known solo his arrt April 1998 for allegedly "engagg a lewd act" ont of an unrver p Beverly Hills, Michael revealed he was gay. The thors all agreed: beg gay was a mental illns and very difficult to treat, but, wh enough motivatn and the right profsnal help, might be possible to reverse the afflictn.
YOUNG & RTLS’ CHRISTIAN JUL LEBLANC UNPACKS THE BAGGAGE OF HOMOPHOBIA: ‘I STILL LIVE WH THE LEGACY OF THAT AS A GAY MAN’
In the almost 40 years sce I started Exod Internatnal, I n hontly say that I have never met a gay person who beme heterosexual through nversn therapy or ex-gay programs. Splter groups like Rtored Hope Network (RHN) and psdo-scientific anizatns like the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH) ntue to promote effective and harmful practic that promise change but liver psychologil and spirual harm stead. Send, the term "ex-gay" has lots of different meangs (some lears like the term, while others don't), rangg om, "I ed to be volved same-sex relatnships, and I am no longer am, " to, "My romantic and sexual sir have changed om homosexual to heterosexual, " along wh everythg between.