A story that rather fell through the cracks here on XGW: Zach’s story made the New York Times. In terms of raw information, it adds a little background into the leadup to Zach’s memorable MySpace post:
He was bombarded by phone calls from reporters, he said, as well as by 100 e-mail messages a day from as far as Norway. Zach’s writings, which appeared on his page on www.MySpace.com, were publicized by one of his online acquaintances, E. J. Friedman, a Memphis musician and writer, who read Zach’s May 29 blog entry, “The World Coming to an Abrupt – Stop.”
Mr. Friedman, 35, was disturbed by what he read and fired off an instant message. “I said: ‘You should run away from home. There are people who will help you,’ ” Mr. Friedman recalled. “He said: ‘I can’t do that. I want to have my childhood. If this is what I have to go through to have it, then I will.’ “
In terms of the story itself, it has now acquired national attention in the mainstream media, in addition to blog followers such as Daily Kos and Republic of T.
As I mentioned at my own blog, the fact that this was in the “Fashion & Style” section deserves condemnation, not praise.
This quote is pretty telling of LIA is really teaching, “While enrolled he spent days listening to stories of the pain that homosexuality had caused clients and their families.”
This from a “success” of the camp. So, are they admitting that they are portraying gays negatively, effectively scaring kids into not being gay?
His story just makes me so angry.
I wonder how he’s going to live after this.
@KipEsquire I agree. At least it made it into the paper. :/