Netflix's 'Pray Away' Is A Humanizg Look At 'Gay Conversn' Therapy Survivors | HuffPost Entertament

Contents:

• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT
• STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘PRAY AWAY’ ON NETFLIX, A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE DEVASTATG IMPACT OF CONVERSN THERAPY & THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT
• ‘PRAY AWAY’ REVIEW: ATONG FOR AN ANTI-GAY STANCE
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' IS A HUMANIZG LOOK AT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY SURVIVORS
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• NETFLIX’S ‘PRAY AWAY’ DOCUMENTARY WILL REMD YOU THAT GAY CONVERSN IS STILL GOG ON

NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' LOOKS BEHD THE CURTA OF THE 'EX-GAY' MOVEMENT

The Film Will Premiere at the Tribe Film Ftival on June 16Feature-length documentary Pray Away, which exam the endurg harm of nversn therapy and the “pray the gay away” movement, is g to Away will have s world premiere at the Tribe Film Ftival on June 16 and will go on to play Doc10. Scully, Alexis Mart WoodallLogle: Former lears of the "pray the gay away" movement ntend wh the aftermath unleashed by their actns, while a survivor seeks healg and acceptance om more than a of trma.

When Amerin documentarian Kriste Stolakis set out to make her but feature film, she knew she wanted to she a light on the “ex-gay” movement, which nsists of those that believe a person’s genr inty or sexual orientatn n be changed.

STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘PRAY AWAY’ ON NETFLIX, A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE DEVASTATG IMPACT OF CONVERSN THERAPY & THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT

Really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward.

Shot before the Covid-19 panmic, the film chronicl the rise — and subsequent fall — of Exod Internatnal, a nversn therapy anizatn that, acrdg to the team behd the the film, began as a Bible study group the 1970s nsistg of five evangelil men who were lookg to help one another leave the “homosexual liftyle.

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

But years after risg to stardom the relig right, many of the “ex-gay” lears, whose own same-sex attractns never went away, have sce e out as LGBTQ and disavowed the very movement that they helped to grow.

Stolakis’ list of terviewe “Pray Away” clus Randy Thomas, the fal vice print of Exod Internatnal; Yvette Cantu Schneir, the former head of Exod’ women’s mistri; and John Plk, one of the most bt-known “ex-gay” people the world. “Somethg my team and I talked about a lot makg this film is, this really is a movement of hurt people hurtg other people, of what ternalized homophobia and transphobia looks like when is wield outward, ” said Stolakis, whose other directorial creds clu “The Typist” and “Where We Stand.

NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' IS A HUMANIZG LOOK AT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY SURVIVORS

”While many former lears have renounced and spoken out agast the “pray the gay away” movement, Stolakis said “the larger culture of homophobia and transphobia, ” particularly relig muni, has allowed the movement to ntue wh younger lears, even wh the dissolutn of Exod Internatnal 2013 and the legalizatn of same-sex marriage the U.

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

Alone, nearly 700, 000 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults have been subjected to some form of nversn therapy durg their lifetime, acrdg to a 2019 report om the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law. ”Wh “Pray Away” set to but more than 190 untri on Netflix this week, Stolakis wants to make one thg clear to every prospective viewer: The “ex-gay” movement was never led by jt “a uple of bad appl.

NETFLIX’S ‘PRAY AWAY’ DOCUMENTARY WILL REMD YOU THAT GAY CONVERSN IS STILL GOG ON

”“As long as that larger culture of homophobia and transphobia exists — be our church, any relig muny, our polil sphere or our culture — some versn of nversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement will ntue, ” she explaed. Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Red, Whe and Royal Blue’ on Amazon Prime Vio, a Charmgly Star-Crossed Gay Rom-Com. Pray Away, now streamg on the platform, exam a more paful part of LGBTQ+ history: gay nversn therapy.

In Pray Away, we get an up-close, personal look at the impact of nversn therapy on dividuals om all walks of life; there are people like Yvette Cantu Schneir, who was a “practicg lbian” for 6 years before she found the church at 27 and beme a lear of the ex-gay movement, Julie Rodgers, who was immersed nversn therapy after g out to her mother when she was 16, John Plk, who beme a natnal celebry after he claimed to have left behd his life as a gay man and married a former lbian. Conversn therapy and the “ex-gay” movement may feel like archaic notns, but McCall, his “Freedom March” for other formerly gay dividuals, and the slew of anizatns still actively tryg to “nvert” people om the LGBTQ+ muny and workg agast equal rights shows that this harmful movement isn’t gog anywhere. Movi|‘Pray Away’ Review: Atong for an Anti-Gay Stance ADVERTISEMENTIn this documentary, people who had promoted the ia that sexual orientatn uld be changed exprs their AwayDirected by Kriste StolakisDocumentaryPG-131h 41mThe Netflix documentary “Pray Away” profil several people who, the public sphere and the ntext of Christiany-cloaked “nversn therapy, ” peddled the ia that homosexualy uld be changed, and who now regret the sufferg they ed.

Michael Bsee, a founr of Exod Internatnal, nsired one of the major anizatns that preached that sexual orientatn uld be changed, was both an early promoter and an early harms nversn therapy , and the tactics , aren’t news at this pot, and “Pray Away” is more tertg when foc on how most of s subjects eventually embraced gay and bisexual inti spe havg formerly been so public their homophobia. Featured promently are former “ex-gay” figur like John Plk and Julie Rodgers, who expla how they me to embrace reparative ― or “gay nversn” ― therapy, only to nounce the practice and acknowledge their te LGBTQ selv later. The are victims of homophobia and transphobia, who are also perpetrators of homophobia and transphobia.