Boy Erased Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus Boy Erased

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Zusammenfassung von Boy Erased

Name: Boy Erased
Rating: 4.3 (28 reviews)
Author: Garrard Conley

Garrard Conley

A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family

4.3 (28 Bewertungen)

18 Min.

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What’s in it for me? Discover what it’s like growing up gay in a fundamentalist home.

When growing up, most of us are lucky enough to enjoy the unconditional love of our parents. But what would happen if their regard for you suddenly became dependent on you changing a crucial aspect of your identity? That’s the question Garrard Conley found himself facing as a gay teenager, growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household.

Join us as we accompany Conley on a grueling journey through fear, rejection and confusion, as he navigates the murky world of the ex-gay movement: a religious movement rooted in the belief that homosexuality is a curable sin. Learn what happened to Conley when he agreed to spend two weeks in an ex-gay facility that promised to cure him and fellow young gay men and women of their “addictions” to homosexuality. We’ll examine the damaging attitudes, shocking practices and heartbreaking consequences of gay conversion therapy, and explore what it really means to grow up gay in a small town in the Southern United States.

Read on to discover

the methods the ex-gay movement uses to try to “convert” gay people;
what fundamentalist Christians believe are the causes of homosexuality; and
why so many young gay people feel they have no choice but to change themselves.

The ex-gay movement taught that homosexuality was a sinful yet curable addiction, just like alcoholism.

For many of us, young adulthood is a time of freedom and experimentation. But it’s not like that for everyone. In fact, at the tender age of just 19, the author Garrard Conley was engaging in the very opposite of self-discovery. Instead, he was learning how to erase an important part of his identity.

This erasure began in 2004 when he attended an intensive two-week program that promised to cure him of his “addiction.” The program providers were a fundamentalist Christian organization called Love in Action. The “addiction” the program would treat was Conley’s sexuality – his attraction to other men.

Love in Action was part of a wider umbrella organization known as Exodus International. With an international reach and operating in countries as far-flung as Brazil, Australia, the Netherlands and the Philippines, Exodus International was the world’s largest ex-gay organization.

The ex-gay movement’s mission was to propagate the idea that homosexuality was an unnatural perversion created by the devil. The movement believed that people could be “cured” of their sexual orientation and made straight – just as God intended – by participating in intensive programs such as the one Conley attended.

The Love in Action course consisted of a 12-step program for participants to follow on their journey to “recovery.” These 12 steps revolved around the principle that homosexuality was a sin akin to pedophilia and bestiality. For instance, when Conley browsed Love in Action’s website before joining up, he was shocked to read that homosexuals were individuals with no self-control, whose proclivities would eventually lead them to have sex with animals if they did not cure themselves.

Moreover, Love in Action equated homosexuality to damaging addictions such as gambling and alcoholism. In other words, the program presented itself as a sort of Alcoholics Anonymous for individuals who wanted a way out of their homosexuality. When Conley first arrived at the program center, he was told that he was using the sin of homosexuality to fill a void in his life, just as other people used drugs and alcohol to curb feelings of emptiness. What he needed to do, the program leader told him, was to renounce homosexuality and fill the void with God instead.

Though his time in the ex-gay movement was relatively brief, Conley’s experiences with Love in Action would haunt him for the next decade of his life.

Participants in the program were stripped of anything that might compromise traditional gender norms.

What helps us form our identity? Is it our clothes, the books we read, or the people with whom we choose to be friends? At the Love in Action program center, Conley was forced to confront this question from the get-go, when everything that might be associated with his existing identity, such as clothing, jewelry and books, was examined and even confiscated upon his arrival.

Participants in the program were told that part of the process of recovering from homosexuality was to encourage their true, heterosexual gender identities to reveal themselves. Anything that might hinder the emergence of these new identities was referred to as a False Image and confiscated. Hindrances constituting a False Image might include sexy clothing, such as tank tops (in the case of men), or short skirts (in the case of women), wearing an excessive amount of jewelry (for men) or talking in a way that was perceived as “campy” (for men). To reinforce traditional ideas of femininity, female participants were required to shave their legs and armpits at least twice a week.

The Love in Action participants felt they had no choice but to seek “treatment” for their sexuality.

For many of us, the decision to enter a “treatment” center that promises to erase part of our identity might seem beyond understanding. But the vast majority of the Love in Action program participants felt they had no choice.

Significantly, Conley, as well as most of the people on the program with him, came from what’s called the Bible Belt, an area roughly corresponding to the American South where church attendance is high, and religion plays a large role in society.

The Love in Action program exacerbated earlier trauma and sometimes led to suicide.

As vulnerable minorities living in hostile, prejudiced communities, many of the Love in Action participants had already had traumatic experiences before they joined the program. For many of them, the program merely made this trauma worse. More tragically still, the program leaders ended up pushing some of these vulnerable individuals to breaking point.

Prior to signing up to Love in Action, Conley himself had experienced severe trauma.

Love in Action counselors believed homosexuality was caused by a lack of childhood sports as well as Satan’s influence.

There is no definitive answer to the question of why some of us are gay, and others are straight. Unsurprisingly though, the Love in Action program thought they had one. According to their dangerous philosophy, the “cause” of homosexuality lay in individuals’ childhoods and the devil’s hold over them.

As a Love in Action participant, Conley was given group counseling by a former alcoholic called Danny Cosby. What counseling qualifications did Cosby have? Absolutely none. Nonetheless, Love in Action felt that Cosby’s alcoholism and previous attendance of AA meetings qualified him to cure any addictions – including homosexuality.

The ex-gay movement has now been discredited and disbanded, but its effects still haunt former members.

Against his parents’ wishes, Conley decided not to continue with the Love in Action program. After two weeks of trying to erase his true self, he reached the brink of his sanity and knew that any longer at the center might drive him to commit suicide.

These days, Love in Action and the larger ex-gay organization to which it belongs, Exodus International, have been disbanded. Unfortunately, the mental scars from Conley’s time in the ex-gay movement still remain with him.

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Worum geht es in Boy Erased?

Boy Erased (2016) explores the author’s experiences within the ex-gay movement: a community that seeks to “cure” homosexuality. Detailing the cruel methodology of conversion therapy and examining the author’s relationship with his devout parents, the blinks investigate the impact of fundamentalist Christian ideology on LGBT people and their families.

Bestes Zitat aus Boy Erased

The program dictated that there could be no physical contact or hugging between program participants, and allowed for quick handshakes only.

—Garrard Conley

Wer Boy Erased lesen sollte

Anyone interested in challenging true-life stories
Those looking for an insight into Christian fundamentalism
People interested in learning more about bigotry toward the LGBT community

Über den Autor

Conley is a survivor of conversion therapy and a speaker and activist campaigning to end the practice. Boy Erased was a New York Times bestseller.

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