My Ex-Gay Friend – Denny Burk

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...