On August 3rd, the documentary Pray Away will drop on Netflix and air in 37 languages and 190 countries. Several “ex-gay” leaders were interviewed and are the major voices in the film. Yvette Cantu Schneider is one of the voice. I know Yvette well. I met her in 2013 after an interview she did with GLAAD […]
Who is Jeffrey McCall in Pray Away Documentary?
If you’ve recently watched the Netflix documentary Pray Away, you may be curious about Jeffrey McCall, one of the people featured in the film. I’ve been aware of McCall for a few years. In 2018, he founded the first Freedom March, a public display of “Jesus followers who have been delivered from LGBTQ identities.” When McCall […]
The Gay-to-Straight Mandate by Yvette Cantu Schneider
I had been a Christian for just under a year when it happened. I had moved into a church house with 7 other young women, made many good friends, and gotten into the habit of reading my Bible for hours each day. It was obvious to everyone that I was on the right track with […]
It’s Time for a Change by Yvette Cantu Schneider
I’m never surprised when someone who claimed not to be gay suddenly announces that, surprise, they actually are gay. Like I’ve said many times before, I haven’t met a so-called ex-gay man I didn’t think was still gay. Not one. It’s one of many reasons I left the Christian Right and the advocacy work I […]
Women’s Sports Ministry and Lesbianism by Yvette Cantu Schneider
Gay men and lesbians were aggrieved in 1983 when conservative pastor and leader of the Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell, infamously stated, “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals, it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.” Lesbians, with minuscule infection rates compared with people who have sex with men, responded to Falwell […]
The Whiteness of Exodus by Yvette Cantu Schneider
My friend Adrienne messaged me after she saw a screening of Pray Away at a film festival in Chicago, “I couldn’t help but notice how very White the film is.” I observed the same situation when I attended my first Exodus conference in 1999 and walked into the main building to a sea of white […]
Christopher Yuan, Stop Lying about the Participants in the Documentary Pray Away
The documentary Pray Away will premiere in 190 countries and 37 languages on Netflix on August 3rd. Former leaders of the you-can’t-be-gay-and-still-be-acceptable-to-God movement tell stories of their involvement in various ministries and their subsequent remorse and trauma, experienced and inflicted upon others. Pray Away will be seen by millions of people worldwide and it will surely […]
Jesus, AIDS, and How I Became “Ex-Gay” by Yvette Cantu Schneider
My road to evangelical Christianity and ex-gay ministry was not your typical “come to Jesus” journey. I suppose no one’s is. As a kid, God was a complicated figure in my life. I was raised a cultural Catholic, meaning we went to mass on Sundays and participated in the sacraments, but nothing more—just the basics. […]
Disillusionment with Ex-Gay Ministries by Yvette Cantu Schneider
My disillusionment with ex-gay ministry/conversion therapy happened, to quote Ernest Hemingway’s character Mike in the novel The Sun Also Rises, “gradually, then suddenly.” When I eagerly became a Christian in my mid-twenties, I approached being “ex-gay” with the same zeal I approached God and His Church. My thunderclap conversion from militant lesbian to dedicated Christian, […]
The Long Legal Battle for LGBTQ Equality Began 150 Years Ago
Bostock v. Clayton County (June 15, 2020), a landmark Supreme Court of the United States decision (5-3), ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBTQ employees from employment discrimination by expanding the definition of “sex” to include sexual orientation or gender identity. Within the environs of conservative political and religious […]
What Does the Bible Teach About Lust? by Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock–A Book Review
Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock recently co-authored a trilogy of books offering their views on “what the Bible teaches about” lust, homosexuality, and “transgenderism.” The first book of the series, “What Does the Bible Teaches About Lust?” (Christian Focus, 2020, UK) unlike the other two books in the series, does not directly spotlight the LGBTQ […]
What Does the Bible Teach about Homosexuality? by Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock–A Book Review
Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock recently co-authored a trilogy of books offering their views on “what the Bible teaches about” lust, homosexuality, and “transgenderism.” I’ve read and reviewed over 6 dozen books in the Bible and sexual orientation/gender identity genre. Though Strachan and Peacock rehash much of what’s typically presented from conservative-leaning sectors, their books […]
What Does the Bible Teach About Transgenderism? by Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock–A Book Review
Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock recently co-authored a trilogy of books offering their views on “what the Bible teaches about” lust, homosexuality, and “transgenderism.” I’ve read and reviewed over 6 dozen books in the Bible and sexual orientation/gender identity genre. Typical of what has been presented from conservative-leaning sectors, Strachan and Peacock rehash much of […]
The War on Psychotherapy: When Sexual Politics, Gender Ideology, and Mental Health Collide by Christopher Doyle, a Book Review
Christopher Doyle’s book “The War on Psychotherapy: When Sexual Politics, Gender Identity, and Mental Health Collide” (Institute for Healthy Families, 2019) is the author’s reaction and response to the past forty-five years of increasing awareness of homosexuality and the desire of the LGBTQ to gain equal status and civil rights denied them. Some overall comments […]
The Grace of Shame by Tim Bayly—A Book Review
Tim Bayly authored “The Grace of Shame” (Warhorn Media, 2017). To understand Bayly’s writing and worldview, it may be useful to know some of his background. [READ FULL REVIEW ON AMAZON] Bayly was ordained in the John Knox Presbytery (the Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin portion) of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). In 1991 he transferred his […]