Created by Dan Rickard, this appears to be a sincere and heartfelt presentation of one young man’s experience with anti-gay shame imposed by both family and society, and his experience with the answers offered him by Exodus International. In his own words:
This is a movie that I did for my sociology class project on my time spent in an ex-gay group called Exodus International.
Call it an homage to what societal influences do to a young mind.
The message here is more complicated than may first appear. It illustrates many of the issues we often discuss here, but with a sadness and desparation that doesn’t always come through in debate. It has a somewhat eerie tone, as though one is viewing the scene of a crime or other tragedy. It may seem a tad long compared to other clips, but at less than 8 minutes I think it’s worth the time.
After watching, share what you think.
Well done. I didn’t have the experiences this fellow did, but the vid does bring back memories of just why I had the closet door so tightly nailed shut for so long.
The video helps to bring out the way the anti-gay church coupled with homophobic society drives people into the arms of Exodus in hopes of finding relief from the outer conflict. The conflict without creates a conflict within.
OH MY GOD. Thats me! I’m the redhead in the white shirt. The interview was done in Birmingham, AL at “Love Embraces All” a counter conference to the exodus event. I was not expectin to see myself! lol
Oh god…
This video describes my cousin, good mormon boy. The group for him was Evergreen…
He’s still sucidal, he can’t keep a job and his parents are some of the most tolerant people…but the church culture just locks you in the closet
We know, but he dosn’t have the courage to come out of the closet to anyone.
I hope he survives…and I hope he leaves the mormon church so he can survive
The stick figure with red arrows stuck out to me. Good songs, had to stop to read the lines. I thought prayer was harmless, the far left side needs to start becoming more active. Exodus gives religion a bad name.
The film gave me the shivers. Even through the novice production values, the sadness came through loud and clear.
A really good presentation. I have to wonder how long it lasts until Exodus demands Youtube take it down. What struck me was at the end when he was ‘thanking’ people and he thanked his parents for showing him how not to raise his kids.
I wonder how many of us might feel the same way…
I have felt the pain this young man has felt, having struggled with the conflict of having romantic attractions to people of my own gender and the knowledge that acting on those feelings is a sin. I have not had the experiences this man had at the Exodus ministry I attend. I am sorry this man was forced into counseling, as that can do some damage. I have not been forced, however. I am sorry he believes and perhaps was even told, you cannot be gay and Christian. You don’t have to believe that homosexual behavior is a sin to know God. We only need to understand that in general we have sinned and that separates us from God; the work of the cross resotores that relationship. Don’t listen to me or Ex-Gay watch or Exodus International. Develop a relationship with God through Christ and HE will tell you His plans for your life. I believe, having listened to God for myself, that acting on my feelings would be a sin. So, I attend an Exodus-affiliated ministry where GOD (not Exodus) has done a lot of healing and whose groups and counseling sessions have been nothing like this young man’s. I love the gay community and am concerned with your lives and how ‘my kind’ may have hurt you. More importantly, so does God. One final note, Westboro ‘Baptist’ Church protests Exodus events as much as they protest anyone else. They do not believe that people with same-sex attractions can changeand put us all in the same category. I am amazed at how much attention they get. There are only about 25 of them, I heard somewhere.
I look forward to the day people like Alan Davis and others from programs like Exodus face the wrath of God for all the pain, damage, and death they’ve caused. God may be able to forgive them but I don’t.
I am a little confused about one of the scenes in the clip. When they show the open bible with the book mark on it, the book mark has the symbol of the United Church of Christ on it. I am a member of the UCC and I can assure you that NO UCC church would host or support any “ex-gay” “ministry”.
The UCC is an extravagantly welcoming denomination to gay and lesbians. I find it offensive that the symbol of my church was used in this film about ex-gay ministries.
I contacted the national headquarters of the UCC in Cleveland Ohio and they confirmed that this type of thing would NEVER be allowed in ANY UCC church.
I would be interested in hearing the gentleman’s explanation as to why this scene was used in this film.
Additionally it is concerning to me that he says that “tools exist” to change sexuality, but they should only be used by those who want to use them.
WRONG! There are NO tools to change one’s sexual orientation. The ONLY thing that can be changed is how a person acts upon his natural orientation. One can express it or repress it. “Ex-gay” “reparative” therapy is actually Gay repression therapy.
I appreciate this poor kid’s message but I think he still has a long way to go in his journey to understanding and acceptance.
I would be interested in hearing the gentleman’s explanation as to why this scene was used in this film.
You would indeed need to ask the person who made the presentation to find out for sure. However, just because there is a UCC bookmark in that one clip, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a UCC church. I would never have even known that’s what it was if you hadn’t mentioned it. Perhaps he needed a clip from inside a church to fit the timeline and used his own church as a set? I’m just guessing that he he may not have had the freedom to take video inside the actual exodus session. Remember, it was created for his college class so these things may have been overlooked for the sake of practicality.
WRONG! There are NO tools to change one’s sexual orientation.
I think we have come to the agreement that, depending on where one starts along the scale of sexual identity, there is the possibility that a small percentage of highly motivated persons can change. There is so little professional research on this (Spitzer seems to be about it and that study was certainly flawed) that one can’t be certain of much. However, taking a hard line “no one can ever change no matter what no how no way” approach might be as inaccurate as Exodus’ (apparently retired) stance that anyone can change.
That said, I would tend to agree with your basic sentiment that the statement in that part of the clip is misleading. Taking the author’s general attitude as a whole, I think it might have been more accurate to say that each individual has a right to live their lives as they see fit, whether that be accepting their nature or attempting to suppress (change) it. I wouldn’t consider the latter wise or likely, but that’s not the point.
Hey ya’ll. The video this person used was taken from a BBC documentary about the ex gay movement. They were in Birmingham, Alabama for a “Love Won Out” event and I and Equality Alabama put together a couner conference called “Love Embraces All” that was held at a UCC church. I’ve tried to contact the person who made this video about getting a copy of the BBC program because i’m interviewed in it. He even uses a quote from me at the end. I havent heard back from Dan Rickard yet so if anyone has this program in a digital format, i would really appreciate a copy. Watching the video is kind of funny because the interviewer who was a very proper englishmen was getting eaten alive by mosquitos while he was asking me questions. you can still see him fidget there in the video because he’s scratching his legs furiously. The film crew left shortly after the interview and ran to a CVS to get some anti-histamine cream. poor fellow.
Thanks for clearing up the UCC question for me Zach. It still bothers me that our Church’s symbol was used in a video about ex-gay ministries in a way that made it look like the anti-gay conference was taking place in one of our sanctuaries.
My denomination is extraordinarily proud of our Open and Affirming stance. Anything that would give the impression that we were anti-gay would be a slap in our face.
Like I said before, that would NEVER happen!!
I’m glad to hear that my denomination actually hosted the “Love Embraces All” conference.