The Tuesday night episode was about the murder of an ex-ex-gay man.
It eventually became apparent that one suspect was a reparative therapist of the Charles Socarides or Paul Cameron variety — and another suspect was the therapist’s closeted ex-gay son.
I thought the show navigated family dynamics, “gay panic” issues, and the torment of a young ex-gay man with some thought and sophistication.
Ex-gays won’t be a bit happy seeing one of their scientists cast as a quack and potential killer, and one of their ex-gays as someone who finds salvation by becoming ex-ex-gay. I can’t say I blame them — aren’t gays upset when AIDS activists are portrayed as homicidal quacks?
One solution, of course, would be for the ex-gay rank-and-file to clean up a few of their leaders’ quackery and emotional abuse — factors that make the episode marginally plausible.
Will TV audiences feel informed by this episode — or preached at by Hollywood?
Noting my obvious bias, I thought the information was presented very well. The police psychologist handled much of it, and as his job was to educate the cops, he actually served as an educator for the viewing audience. He made clear that while some ex-gays believe they have changed, others strive to be celibate. And he noted, correctly, that ex-gay groups say how successful they are without offering any statistics to back up their claims. They had an ex-gay couple that admitted that they struggle every day with living up to their religious beliefs. The handcuffing of the Phelpslike minister was a bit much. And George Segal as the Socarideslike shrink played it a bit over the top, but then, George Segal’s acting style tends to be over the top. The dead guy’s ex-boyfriend (they met in the “ReGenesis” ministry) stated that while in the group he learned to accept himself as he was and was grateful to ReGenesis for that; I have had some ex-ex-gays say the same thing to me in real life.
I can understand if ex-gays are upset about the homicidal quack, though. That could not have been fun for them to watch. But I thought SVU did a farily decent job.
I kinda wish I’d seen the whole episode, but am equally glad that I didn’t. (Call me the Prince of Ambivalence.)
Seems to me the topics were being covered as well as they could have been in thumbnail sketches. Compared to his “Just Shoot Me” character, Segal played an over-the-top character conservatively.
The segue that didn’t work for me was the son going from “I’m to blame for everything” to “Dad’s to blame for everything” to “I’m happy to be out” in 24 hours, give or take.
Yeah, the was quite the rapid turnabout. Then again, they pack an awful lot into less than an hour.
Just an aside – I think this is a remaking of another Law and Order episode – the original series, but in that case it was more of a take on the Barry Winchell murder (if I am remembering it right, repressed gay men gets mentally disturbed brother to murder the “ex-gay” son of a prominent Socarides-like psychologist).
Oh, wow, I missed that one. Perhaps it is on the recent video release of SVU’s first season of “ripped from the headlines” stories.
I thought the show was extremely well presented–showing both sides of the struggle. Of course, much had to be condensed, but that’s what happens in one hour dramas. I would be very interested in purchasing this video for our PFLAG group. Would you believe that we have a PFLAG group of 80 members, including gays, parents, friends, and occasionally teen-agers, in Crossville, Tennessee?