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 […]
Archive | Reparative Therapy
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Fixing the Gays and Continually Moving the Goalpost
There’s a new method of “fixing the gays” that is descending from heaven. Or more correctly stated, since previous methods and therapies to convert those who are homosexual to heterosexuality have become the negative subject of movies, books, and documentaries, and have been found by experts and LGBTQ people themselves to be damaging, ineffective, […]
How Did Homosexuality Come to be Labeled as a Mental Illness?
On a lovely October evening, I spent three delightful hours talking with Dr. Kenneth Lewes, a pioneer who challenged the American Psychoanalytic Association’s (APsaA) stances on homosexuality in the late 1980s. Dr. Lewes had already graciously given me over two hours of his time on a phone call several months before and had fact-checked a […]
Back to the Start | The Real Roots of Exodus | Pt.I
In September 2012, I attended the inaugural conference for Restored Hope Network (RHN) at Sunrise Community Church in Sacramento, CA. The forming committee for RHN had been gathering for several months in response to the belief that Exodus International was straying from its roots. When they concluded that their differences with Exodus were irreparable, several Exodus member ministries […]
Back to Bondage | The Restored Hope Network Exits Exodus | Pt. II
In September 2012, I attended the inaugural conference for Restored Hope Network (RHN) at Sunrise Community Church in Sacramento, CA. The forming committee for RHN had been gathering for several months in response to the belief that Exodus International was straying from its roots. When they concluded that their differences with Exodus were irreparable, several Exodus member […]
Back to the Closet | Restored Hope Network on Homosexuality | Pt. III
In September 2012, I attended the inaugural conference for Restored Hope Network (RHN) at Sunrise Community Church in Sacramento, CA. The forming committee for RHN had been gathering for several months in response to the belief that Exodus International was straying from its roots. When they concluded that their differences with Exodus were irreparable, several Exodus […]