Netflix’s “Pray Away” Cononts the Li of the Ex-Gay Movement | Relign & Polics

Contents:

• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
• THE DOWNFALL OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• AFTER EXOD: EVANGELILS REACT AS EX-GAY MISTRY STARTS OVER
• EXOD CLOS, MARKG OFFICIAL END OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENTPRI PARATHE LARGT CHRISTIAN EX-GAY GROUP IS CLOSG, MARKG THE END OF THE BELIEF THAT GAYS N GO STRAIGHT.DAVID SSNSUPDATED JUL. 11, 2017 10:28PM EDT / PUBLISHED JUN. 21, 2013 4:45AM EDT PHELAN M. EBENHACK/APIT MIGHT SEEM LIKE THE “EX-GAY” MOVEMENT END THURSDAY, WH THE CLOSG OF EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EVANGELIL ANIZATN THAT ONCE PRACTICED “REPARATIVE THERAPY” FOR GAY CHRISTIANS, AND WH THE APOLOGY OF S PRINT, ALAN CHAMBERS, FOR THE HURT HE HAS ED. “I AM SORRY I DIDN'T STAND UP TO PEOPLE PUBLICLY ‘ON MY SI’ WHO LLED YOU NAM,” CHAMBERS SAID AN OPEN LETTER ADDRSED TO THE “LGBT MUNY.” “I AM SORRY I HAVE MUNITED THAT YOU AND YOUR FAI ARE LS THAN ME AND ME.” THE STATEMENT ANNOUNCED THE EXOD BOARD’S UNANIMO CISN TO CLOSE S DOORS.THE MOVE IS CERTALY SIGNIFINT, AND IS NO DOUBT TEND TO HAVE A POWERFUL SYMBOLIC EFFECT. BUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT IS ONLY THE PSTONE OF THE RAPID DISAPPEARANCE OF THE “EX-GAY MOVEMENT,” A NSTELLATN OF EVANGELIL MISTRI (AND A FEW JEWISH AND MORMON OFFSHOOTS) THAT EMBRACED PSDOSCIENTIFIC THERAPI TO CHANGE THE SEXUAL ORIENTATN OF GAY BELIEVERS. THE LIFE WAS SUCKED OUT OF EXOD BY BOTH THE MOMENTUM OF THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE NSTANT FECTNS OF PEOPLE PREVLY ASSOCIATED WH THE MOVEMENT. BUT PERHAPS MORE THAN ANYTHG, WAS CHAMBERS HIMSELF WHO HAD HAD ENOUGH.LARGELY UNNOTICED BY THE MASTREAM MEDIA, CHAMBERS HAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS BEEN DISTANCG EXOD OM THE DISCREDED IAS BEHD REPARATIVE THERAPY AND THE ANIZATNS’ PREV CLAIMS TO HAVE HELPED “THOANDS” OF PEOPLE OVERE THEIR HOMOSEXUALY. DURG HIS 11 YEARS AT EXOD, CHAMBERS GRADUALLY MORATED HIS CLAIMS ABOUT THE POSSIBILY OF CHANGG SEXUAL ORIENTATN, QUTNG THE ANIZATN’S TALK OF “CHANGE” AND REJECTG THE TERM “EX-GAY.” HIS 2009 BOOK, LEAVG HOMOSEXUALY, REVEALED SOME OF THE MSS OF HIS OWN MARRIAGE TO A WOMAN AFTER YEARS OF LIVG AN OPENLY GAY LIFE. A YEAR AGO CHAMBERS EXPLICLY NOUNCED REPARATIVE THERAPY AND SAID HE HAD NEVER MET ANYONE WHO CHANGED THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN, SPARKG A FUROR AMONG MORE NSERVATIVE EX-GAY GROUPS. BUT CHAMBERS’S GRADUAL MAKEOVER OF EXOD SEEMS LARGELY DRIVEN BY THE NSTANT LUGE OF BAD NEWS ON EVERY POSSIBLE ONT. GAY MARRIAGE IS ASCENDANT, DRIVEN BY A RAPIDLY SHIFTG PUBLIC OPN. THE PILLARS OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT’S PRETENSNS TO SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILY WERE BEG MOLISHED. WARREN THROCKMORTON, AN EVANGELIL PSYCHOLOGIST WHO STUDI SEXUAL INTY, EVENTUALLY NCLUD THAT THERE WAS NO EVINCE REPARATIVE THERAPY WORKED AND BEME A STRONG CRIC OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT’S CLAIMS. THE WELL-KNOWN PSYCHIATRIST ROBERT SPZER PUBLICLY RENOUNCED AND APOLOGIZED FOR HIS NTROVERSIAL 2001 STUDY THAT HAD BEEN GREETED AS A HOLY GRAIL FOR THOSE LOOKG FOR EVINCE THERAPY ULD CHANGE SEXUAL ORIENTATN.AND THEN THERE WERE THE “EX-EX-GAYS.” BOTH FORMER EX-GAY LEARS AND PARTICIPANTS WERE A NSTANT PR NIGHTMARE FOR THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT AS THEY ME OUT, SOME S FOR THE SEND TIME, AND ANNOUNCED WHAT CHAMBERS WOULD EVENTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGE: THAT NO ONE THEY KNEW OF HAD EVER BEE STRAIGHT. IN 2007 THREE FORMER EXOD LEARS APOLOGIZED FOR THEIR VOLVEMENT THE ANIZATN. IN 2010 BAPTIST MISTER AND EX-GAY THOR GEE REKERS WAS UGHT AT THE AIRPORT WH A GAY “RENTBOY” WHO CLAIMED HE HAD GIVEN REKERS “NU BODY BS.” IN 2011 JOHN SMID, THE DIRECTOR OF A CALIFORNIA EX-GAY GROUP THEN KNOWN AS LOVE ACTN, APOLOGIZED ON HIS BLOG AFTER PARTICIPATG A DOCUMENTARY THAT FORCED HIM TO NONT THE HURT HE HAD ED.EVEN BEFORE EXOD EXPLICLY BEGAN S REBRANDG, THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT HAD BEEN CIMATED SI AND OUT. “WE’VE CEASED TO BE A LIVG, BREATHG ANISM,” CHAMBERS WROTE. THE THERAPI THAT HAD ONCE FORMED S BACKBONE, DISCREDED MASTREAM IAS OM THE MID-20TH CENTURY, HAD BEME FOSSILIZED PSDOSCIENTIFIC NSERVATIVE ANIZATNS THAT LACKED EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF CREDIBILY. HORROR STORI ABOUT PRSN AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS OM THOSE EX-GAY THERAPY WERE REPORTED THE MASTREAM MEDIA AND HAD AN EFFECT EVEN ON THE RELIG. LAST YEAR, ORTHODOX JEWISH RABBIS ME OUT AGAST THE THERAPY JT A FEW MONTHS AFTER CALIFORNIA BEME THE FIRST STATE TO BAN FOR TEENS UNR 18.BUT PERHAPS THE BIGGT FACTOR IS THE SHIFTG EXPERIENCE OF NSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS THEMSELV, WHO N NO LONGER SULATE THEMSELV OM THE REALY OF THE GAY PEOPLE THEY KNOW AND WHO HAVE BEGUN TO ACCEPT THAT SEXUAL ORIENTATN ISN’T A CHOICE. GAY CHRISTIANS ARE NO LONGER ISOLATED OM ACCURATE RMATN ON THE INTER, ALONG WH A HEALTHY DOSE OF LGBT CRICISM OF EX-GAY CLAIMS. WHATEVER THEOLOGIL BELIEFS EVANGELILS MAY HOLD, ’S BEG MORE AND MORE OBV THAT NVERSN THERAPY IS A RELIC OF A WORLD THAT’S ALL BUT DISAPPEARED. DAVID SSNS
• EQUIVOTN AND THE EX-GAY SCRIPT
• EXOD HEAD: GAY CHRISTIANS CAN GO TO HEAVEN; J DIDN'T SAY 'I'LL MAKE YOU STRAIGHT'
• WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?
• NETFLIX’S “PRAY AWAY” CONONTS THE LI OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUPS WILL CONTUE AFTER EXOD AS RELIG LGBT SUPPORT GROWS

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

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. 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. 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.

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. As Stott wrote Issu Facg Christians Today back 1982, “In every discsn about homosexualy we mt be rigoro differentiatg between this ‘beg’ and ‘dog, ’ that is, between a person’s inty and activy, sexual preference and sexual practice, nstutn and nduct. In the Uned Stat, as the 1969 Stonewall rts New York announced the birth of the gay rights movement, orthodox Prottants were already askg what posive visn Scripture giv for people who are gay.

In a statement, the lears clared, “We repent of the cripplg ‘homophobia’ … which has loured the attus toward homosexual people of all too many of , and ll our fellow Christians to siar repentance. Stott, himself celibate, explaed: “At the heart of the homosexual ndn is a ep and natural hunger for mutual love, a search for inty and a longg for pletens. Schaeffer foraw signifint cultural chang when, 1978, an Orthodox Prbyterian Church ngregatn San Francis found self sued for releasg a gay employee who had vlated the church’s of nduct.

WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.

Church historian Richard Lovelace’s 1978 book Homosexualy and the Church garnered hearty endorsements om evangelil lumari Ken Kantzer (a former CT edor), Elisabeth Ellt, Chuck Colson, Harold Ockenga, and Carl F. There is another approach to homosexualy which would be healthier both for the church and for gay believers, and which uld be a very signifint wns to the world.

First, would require profsg Christians who are gay to have the urage both to avow [acknowledge] their orientatn openly and to obey the Bible’s clear junctn to turn away om the active homosexual life-style. The church’s sponsorship of openly avowed but repentant homosexuals learship posns would be a profound wns to the world ncerng the power of the Gospel to ee the church om homophobia and the homosexual om guilt and bondage.

Yet this was the Christian visn of Lovelace and Henry, Ockenga and Ellt, Kantzer and Colson, Lewis and Graham, Schaeffer and Stott, and a young gay evangelil Anglin who felt too aaid to e his own name, even though he was still a virg. As I watch evangelil church and nomatns fumble their way through discsns of sexual orientatn and inty, often enforcg the language and tegori of a failed ex-gay movement, we’re missg the real battle: The surroundg culture has nvced the world that Christians hate gay people.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT

They are already send-gusg their fah bee they hear all around them that Christians hate gay people, and they n’t pot to anyone their ngregatn who is gay, is fahful, and is loved and accepted as such. — For 37 years, Exod Internatnal was the leadg bean of the “ex gay” movement, which mataed that gay men and lbians uld change their sexual orientatn through prayer and psychotherapy. Still, as Exod has backed away om efforts to cure homosexualy, other nservative Christian groups have moved to fill the void, and have ntued to assert that homosexualy is not nate but an immoral last year, when Mr.

Chambers — who gave up same-sex relatnships to marry a woman — announced that he no longer believed homosexualy uld be cured, Exod’s fund-raisg has dwdled, officials nced.

AFTER EXOD: EVANGELILS REACT AS EX-GAY MISTRY STARTS OVER

Aaron Bzer, a platiff the lawsu challengg California’s ban on gay nversn therapy, said that Exod’s closg would do nothg to dimish his fah that such treatment n work, as he said had for him. Ex-gay lears traveled to church and appeared on televisn news programs cg a lany of exampl of happily married “former homosexuals” to monstrate that sexual orientatn is a choice and that change is Chambers would unrgo a radil change of heart. ”As a former Exod participant who once lived a “gay liftyle” but was able to achieve a succsful straight marriage, Chambers was the perfect ndidate to lead the anizatn.

EXOD CLOS, MARKG OFFICIAL END OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENTPRI PARATHE LARGT CHRISTIAN EX-GAY GROUP IS CLOSG, MARKG THE END OF THE BELIEF THAT GAYS N GO STRAIGHT.DAVID SSNSUPDATED JUL. 11, 2017 10:28PM EDT / PUBLISHED JUN. 21, 2013 4:45AM EDT PHELAN M. EBENHACK/APIT MIGHT SEEM LIKE THE “EX-GAY” MOVEMENT END THURSDAY, WH THE CLOSG OF EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EVANGELIL ANIZATN THAT ONCE PRACTICED “REPARATIVE THERAPY” FOR GAY CHRISTIANS, AND WH THE APOLOGY OF S PRINT, ALAN CHAMBERS, FOR THE HURT HE HAS ED. “I AM SORRY I DIDN'T STAND UP TO PEOPLE PUBLICLY ‘ON MY SI’ WHO LLED YOU NAM,” CHAMBERS SAID AN OPEN LETTER ADDRSED TO THE “LGBT MUNY.” “I AM SORRY I HAVE MUNITED THAT YOU AND YOUR FAI ARE LS THAN ME AND ME.” THE STATEMENT ANNOUNCED THE EXOD BOARD’S UNANIMO CISN TO CLOSE S DOORS.THE MOVE IS CERTALY SIGNIFINT, AND IS NO DOUBT TEND TO HAVE A POWERFUL SYMBOLIC EFFECT. BUT THE ANNOUNCEMENT IS ONLY THE PSTONE OF THE RAPID DISAPPEARANCE OF THE “EX-GAY MOVEMENT,” A NSTELLATN OF EVANGELIL MISTRI (AND A FEW JEWISH AND MORMON OFFSHOOTS) THAT EMBRACED PSDOSCIENTIFIC THERAPI TO CHANGE THE SEXUAL ORIENTATN OF GAY BELIEVERS. THE LIFE WAS SUCKED OUT OF EXOD BY BOTH THE MOMENTUM OF THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE NSTANT FECTNS OF PEOPLE PREVLY ASSOCIATED WH THE MOVEMENT. BUT PERHAPS MORE THAN ANYTHG, WAS CHAMBERS HIMSELF WHO HAD HAD ENOUGH.LARGELY UNNOTICED BY THE MASTREAM MEDIA, CHAMBERS HAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS BEEN DISTANCG EXOD OM THE DISCREDED IAS BEHD REPARATIVE THERAPY AND THE ANIZATNS’ PREV CLAIMS TO HAVE HELPED “THOANDS” OF PEOPLE OVERE THEIR HOMOSEXUALY. DURG HIS 11 YEARS AT EXOD, CHAMBERS GRADUALLY MORATED HIS CLAIMS ABOUT THE POSSIBILY OF CHANGG SEXUAL ORIENTATN, QUTNG THE ANIZATN’S TALK OF “CHANGE” AND REJECTG THE TERM “EX-GAY.” HIS 2009 BOOK, LEAVG HOMOSEXUALY, REVEALED SOME OF THE MSS OF HIS OWN MARRIAGE TO A WOMAN AFTER YEARS OF LIVG AN OPENLY GAY LIFE. A YEAR AGO CHAMBERS EXPLICLY NOUNCED REPARATIVE THERAPY AND SAID HE HAD NEVER MET ANYONE WHO CHANGED THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN, SPARKG A FUROR AMONG MORE NSERVATIVE EX-GAY GROUPS. BUT CHAMBERS’S GRADUAL MAKEOVER OF EXOD SEEMS LARGELY DRIVEN BY THE NSTANT LUGE OF BAD NEWS ON EVERY POSSIBLE ONT. GAY MARRIAGE IS ASCENDANT, DRIVEN BY A RAPIDLY SHIFTG PUBLIC OPN. THE PILLARS OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT’S PRETENSNS TO SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILY WERE BEG MOLISHED. WARREN THROCKMORTON, AN EVANGELIL PSYCHOLOGIST WHO STUDI SEXUAL INTY, EVENTUALLY NCLUD THAT THERE WAS NO EVINCE REPARATIVE THERAPY WORKED AND BEME A STRONG CRIC OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT’S CLAIMS. THE WELL-KNOWN PSYCHIATRIST ROBERT SPZER PUBLICLY RENOUNCED AND APOLOGIZED FOR HIS NTROVERSIAL 2001 STUDY THAT HAD BEEN GREETED AS A HOLY GRAIL FOR THOSE LOOKG FOR EVINCE THERAPY ULD CHANGE SEXUAL ORIENTATN.AND THEN THERE WERE THE “EX-EX-GAYS.” BOTH FORMER EX-GAY LEARS AND PARTICIPANTS WERE A NSTANT PR NIGHTMARE FOR THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT AS THEY ME OUT, SOME S FOR THE SEND TIME, AND ANNOUNCED WHAT CHAMBERS WOULD EVENTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGE: THAT NO ONE THEY KNEW OF HAD EVER BEE STRAIGHT. IN 2007 THREE FORMER EXOD LEARS APOLOGIZED FOR THEIR VOLVEMENT THE ANIZATN. IN 2010 BAPTIST MISTER AND EX-GAY THOR GEE REKERS WAS UGHT AT THE AIRPORT WH A GAY “RENTBOY” WHO CLAIMED HE HAD GIVEN REKERS “NU BODY BS.” IN 2011 JOHN SMID, THE DIRECTOR OF A CALIFORNIA EX-GAY GROUP THEN KNOWN AS LOVE ACTN, APOLOGIZED ON HIS BLOG AFTER PARTICIPATG A DOCUMENTARY THAT FORCED HIM TO NONT THE HURT HE HAD ED.EVEN BEFORE EXOD EXPLICLY BEGAN S REBRANDG, THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT HAD BEEN CIMATED SI AND OUT. “WE’VE CEASED TO BE A LIVG, BREATHG ANISM,” CHAMBERS WROTE. THE THERAPI THAT HAD ONCE FORMED S BACKBONE, DISCREDED MASTREAM IAS OM THE MID-20TH CENTURY, HAD BEME FOSSILIZED PSDOSCIENTIFIC NSERVATIVE ANIZATNS THAT LACKED EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF CREDIBILY. HORROR STORI ABOUT PRSN AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS OM THOSE EX-GAY THERAPY WERE REPORTED THE MASTREAM MEDIA AND HAD AN EFFECT EVEN ON THE RELIG. LAST YEAR, ORTHODOX JEWISH RABBIS ME OUT AGAST THE THERAPY JT A FEW MONTHS AFTER CALIFORNIA BEME THE FIRST STATE TO BAN FOR TEENS UNR 18.BUT PERHAPS THE BIGGT FACTOR IS THE SHIFTG EXPERIENCE OF NSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS THEMSELV, WHO N NO LONGER SULATE THEMSELV OM THE REALY OF THE GAY PEOPLE THEY KNOW AND WHO HAVE BEGUN TO ACCEPT THAT SEXUAL ORIENTATN ISN’T A CHOICE. GAY CHRISTIANS ARE NO LONGER ISOLATED OM ACCURATE RMATN ON THE INTER, ALONG WH A HEALTHY DOSE OF LGBT CRICISM OF EX-GAY CLAIMS. WHATEVER THEOLOGIL BELIEFS EVANGELILS MAY HOLD, ’S BEG MORE AND MORE OBV THAT NVERSN THERAPY IS A RELIC OF A WORLD THAT’S ALL BUT DISAPPEARED. DAVID SSNS

”The movement tradnalists believed would be their savg grace the fight agast LGBT rights was quickly beg their Achill’ chosen to lead Exod 2001 was like beg the ex-gay Pope followg the Catholic sex-abe sndals. Today, even top Southern Baptist lears have nounced ex-gay therapy, and the school newspaper for the Jerry Falwell-found Liberty Universy has edorialized agast . He has voiced his support for Print Obama’s effort to ban orientatn-change therapi for mors and celebrated the Supreme Court’s cisn to legalize gay marriage.

EQUIVOTN AND THE EX-GAY SCRIPT

“For those who nnot rencile their fah and sexualy, they n be affirmed their choice of celibacy and vote their liv to more life givg than ‘riddg themselv of the mon homosexualy, ’” Chambers says. This week's surprisg cisn by Exod Internatnal to, after nearly four s as the world's largt mistry foced on homosexualy, apologize, shut down, and start over has drawn headl worldwi.

It might seem like the “ex-gay” movement end Thursday, wh the closg of Exod Internatnal, the evangelil anizatn that once practiced “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, and wh the apology of s print, Alan Chambers, for the hurt he has ed. But the announcement is only the pstone of the rapid disappearance of the “ex-gay movement, ” a nstellatn of evangelil mistri (and a few Jewish and Mormon offshoots) that embraced psdoscientific therapi to change the sexual orientatn of gay believers. Largely unnoticed by the mastream media, Chambers had for several years been distancg Exod om the discreded ias behd reparative therapy and the anizatns’ prev claims to have helped “thoands” of people overe their homosexualy.

EXOD HEAD: GAY CHRISTIANS CAN GO TO HEAVEN; J DIDN'T SAY 'I'LL MAKE YOU STRAIGHT'

Durg his 11 years at Exod, Chambers gradually morated his claims about the possibily of changg sexual orientatn, qutng the anizatn’s talk of “change” and rejectg the term “ex-gay. A year ago Chambers explicly nounced reparative therapy and said he had never met anyone who changed their sexual orientatn, sparkg a furor among more nservative ex-gay Chambers’s gradual makeover of Exod seems largely driven by the nstant luge of bad news on every possible ont.

Warren Throckmorton, an evangelil psychologist who studi sexual inty, eventually nclud that there was no evince reparative therapy worked and beme a strong cric of the ex-gay movement’s claims.

WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?

The well-known psychiatrist Robert Spzer publicly renounced and apologized for his ntroversial 2001 study that had been greeted as a holy grail for those lookg for evince therapy uld change sexual then there were the “ex-ex-gays.

NETFLIX’S “PRAY AWAY” CONONTS THE LI OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT

” Both former ex-gay lears and participants were a nstant PR nightmare for the ex-gay movement as they me out, some s for the send time, and announced what Chambers would eventually acknowledge: that no one they knew of had ever bee straight. ” In 2011 John Smid, the director of a California ex-gay group then known as Love Actn, apologized on his blog after participatg a documentary that forced him to nont the hurt he had before Exod explicly began s rebrandg, the ex-gay movement had been cimated si and out.

EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUPS WILL CONTUE AFTER EXOD AS RELIG LGBT SUPPORT GROWS

Last year, Orthodox Jewish rabbis me out agast the therapy jt a few months after California beme the first state to ban for teens unr perhaps the biggt factor is the shiftg experience of nservative Christians themselv, who n no longer sulate themselv om the realy of the gay people they know and who have begun to accept that sexual orientatn isn’t a choice. Though a relic of nversn therapy, this script remas enforced wh a vengeance nservative relig spac filled wh well-meang people who don't even know what the ex-gay script was or why was veloped. It was a basic stcture repeated thoands of tim, a narrative that sought to expla how you beme gay—parental dysfunctn, peer rejectn, and abe beg the big three—and how, bee of God, you aren’t gay anymore.

I know of no better way to create the imprsn of succsful orientatn change than to nvce thoands and thoands of people that the first theraptic step toward beg straight is to sist that they ed to be homosexual but are not anymore. When Roman Catholic reparative therapist Richard Fzgibbons first began promotg Same Sex Attractn Disorr (SSAD) the late 1990s, he imaged the term replacg the word “gay. Remember, the ex-gay movement had spent s creatg a narrative which the gay person stopped beg gay or homosexual and changed to bee somethg else: ex-gay or heterosexual or on the healg path toward heterosexual functng.

While many of prefer one scriptor to the other, and often for perfectly valid reasons, what's the objective difference between beg gay and beg “not gay… jt same-sex attracted”? Is the expectatn of possible sexual orientatn change the only difference between perceivg of yourself as homosexual and perceivg of yourself as same-sex attracted? This meant that a gay person who repented and followed J and gave up sex and porn and lt and walked wh God and lled themselv same-sex attracted was a godly Christian.