A documentary about the controversial ex-gay program Love in Action will be released on DVD on June 6 2009.
Love in Action revisits the furore of summer 2005, when then-16-year-old Zach Stark gained the attention of activists worldwide after his parents forced him to attend the Memphis-based program. In the film, Zach speaks for the first time about his ordeal.
From the official blog:
In the documentary, former Love In Action director John Smid as well as former adult and teenage clients share their hearts on these experiences. In addition, local bloggers, community activists and classmates of Zach tell their stories of becoming involved with what would become a story that gained the attention of largest international news organizations.
[…]The documentary chronicles the personal stories of those involved and their relationships with God, the world around them and themselves as this agonizingly divisive and polarizing issue unfolds. It also features an extremely surprising, and highly unlikely friendship that developed over this time period, which no one could have predicted would form.
It follows the events that led up to and sparked this story, the ongoing protests and the events that have continued since, including state investigations into LIA’s practices, a lawsuit filed by LIA against the State of Tennessee, as well as the story of the return of a former teen client of Refuge a year later to speak out against the program in a “one year anniversary protest.”
This is great! I’ve been looking forward to this release for over a year now. I was afraid it was never going to come out. This is a great year for documentaries on religion (specifically, the abuses thereof). I think Audience of One and Silhouette City are also coming out this year.
I’ll make sure to promote this on my blog. By the way, the book Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon also has a lot of similarities with the whole Zach Stark case. You guys might want to check it out.
Congrats to the producers of This is What Love in Action Looks Like!
Best wishes,
John