Austin Ruse is president of C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute), a “New York and Washington DC-based research institute focusing on international legal and social policy” (two of their four core values are “professionalism” and “truth telling,” so you know they’re legit), and he’s written a truly excellent piece on a new “pray the gay away” documentary called Desire of the Everlasting Hills. Which also sounds like the name of a bargain bin paperback novel.
And boy does he get it right.
He begins by calling out those in the, ahem, gay media for their conspiracy to erase success cases like those featured in the documentary from the public consciousness.
The modern day LGBT movement wants you to believe that the people featured in the new documentary “Desire of the Everlasting Hills” really don’t exist. They are figments of the fevered imaginations of the Christian right.
Touché, sir. It appears as if we’ve been found out, and I will absolutely be sure to bring this up at our next super-secret world domination potluck. The theme this month is “South of the Border: Recruiting unaccompanied minors to the gay underworld and make-your-own enchilada bar.” I’m in charge of the guacamole.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Austin deftly points out that documentary subjects Dan, Rilene and Paul most certainly do exist (way to rub it in), and that they’re “all refugees from deep enmeshment in the LGBT life, each finding a home in sexual sobriety and, not incidentally, the Catholic Church.”
Also not incidentally, that reminds me I need to find some enmeshed booty shorts before Dore Alley this weekend.
But as Austin rambles on, his knack (dare I say God-anointed gift?) for crafting compelling prose really starts to shine.
Like the story he tells about Dan’s green thumb:
“Was Mattson ever attracted to women? He went to a strip club and struck up a conversation about gardening with the woman trying to give him a lap dance. She gave him gardening tips that he uses to this day.”
And his totally logical conclusion:
Many in the gay life are desperate to get out. But the world conspires against them.
Amen, Sister Mary Gayaway.
If you have time to waste, you can read the rest of Austin’s piece here, and if you have serious time to waste, the entire documentary is available to stream online:
throwslikeagirl
It’s so true! I’m desperate to get OUT! Thanks to the crack reporters at Queerty, I understand from yesterday’s story that I’m enslaved by my Gay Fart Demons! Perhaps… just perhaps… Mr. Ruse is correct. Could it be? Could I pray the gas, I mean gay, away!? Is this like Beano for the soul?? I dunno, but like Mama Rose, I’m at least gonna try! And I’M. GOING. TO. GET. OUT!!! ( Maybe a Broadway show tune reference isn’t really the best example of my butch sincerity, oh nuts… I just blew Schiaparelli pink smoke outta my butt. Smells like Chanel #5! )
Scribe38
@throwslikeagirl: Hugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr-DJ
Ain’t nobody got time for dat BS!
Ogre Magi
Why do so many in the LGBT community act like Catholics are not as bad as evangelicals
PARKAVMAN
I’ve always thought Catholics were as bad and they made it a cult for about 2000 years.
Shame the gay away.
Mezaien
Really! what good can possible come out of Christianity?.
Jacob23
Another ex-gay documentary. They are really making an effort to push this, probably as a reaction to the collapse of Exodus. This makes the third ex-gay documentary in the last 6 months.
Of course, each documentary has the same fatal problem, and it is the same problem which has plagued their movement for 40 years – there is no evidence that the phenomenon is real. After 40 years, the ex-gay movement is a handful of tiny ministries in a few states and the clientele of a few dozen therapists. There are probably a few thousand people involved in conversion therapy or ministries in the US. There are only perhaps 200 who publicly identify themselves as ex-gay, but many of them will qualify this when pushed that they still have same-sex attractions.
There are no more than 2 or 3 dozen people who claim to have truly converted from homosexual to heterosexual. And of these, every single one is significantly involved in some ex-gay professional venture. It may be their job, or it may be the subject of a book they are selling, but they are always some sort of leader. I have been unable to identify even a single individual who claims to have fully converted from homosexual to heterosexual who is just an average person with no position in an ex-gay organization or with some financial interest in the movement
Jim Guinnessey
Another religious anti-Gay maniac, this time Catholic(but he must be a darling of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops).
SteveDenver
No sound reasoning, just lame wisecracks.
The gays and lesbians who choose to nail shut their own closet doors are welcome to do so. We’ll be here, but we’re not waiting. We’re having a wonderful life of growing acceptance within ourselves and from others.
chrisgn5265
I feel very bad for the three people in the video. They are clearly people who are unfulfilled in life and searching. I hope they find what they need to be fulfilled. I will tell you that I was in the same boat. Same guilt for being gay, same empty feelings. I prayed constantly for God to take the gay away, but the desires never left. I joined a religious community to immerse myself in God and to pray with people who all wanted to please God. However, I felt like I couldn’t survive any longer with the gay feelings. At one point, I had a loaded gun in my mouth because I couldn’t handle it anymore. At that point I cried out, “God, this is it. Either I have to accept that I am a gay man and live like one, or I am gong to die. Give me an answer.” A peace came over me, and I put the gun away. I knew I had to be the man God made me to be. So I left the religious community and embraced who I am. Today, I am a gay man married to an AMAZING and loving man, and we have a life of love and respect.
dukeofhurl
@SteveDenver: Because there’s no possible way to reason with you guys. You’ve heard what we have to say and we’ve heard you. There is no more to say. Laughing at you is fun though.
kevininbuffalo
@chrisgn5265: Sadly it can take a long time for RC’s to find freedom. The Church’s brain washing is relentless. I attended Catholic grade school in the sixties before, during and after Vatican II. They literally were putting the fear of God into you from the age of 6 up. Everything was a hell fire offense. And there was no where to hide from God, he saw everything. What defense did a young kid in their most impressionable years have against such an onslaught? Especially when everyone around you believed the same things, or at least kept their doubts to themselves. Internet and cable TV were a long way off, you didn’t have the opportunity to hear a variety of views like even kids can hear today. The sole purpose of homeschooling and private religious schools today is to limit the voices young people hear. It’s criminal, or should be. My heart goes out to anyone trapped by this stuff. I just turned 59 and I still sometimes struggle with it. The best cure for ignorance is education and that means hearing a variety of viewpoints not just the officially sanctioned ones.
DawnTrans
@kevininbuffalo:
Many of us who attended catholic school heard the same hellfire rhetoric. By age 11 I was laughing at all the “stories” as they were trying to instill fear in us. The weak and feeble followed as they would in any case. The strong and independent minded renounced their propaganda.
I was taught by Franciscan Brothers and more then a few set off my gadar. Sadly though I was too femme for them……
NoCagada
He sounds like the married men I’ve fucked up the ass who tell you why you should vote republican after their orgasm.
enlightenone
@Jacob23: You are the smartest man in class today! Now, if you can help me understand the Tom Daly obsession, to include Queerty, I will reward you with one of those “now that you came “OUT, you are so brave and courage” awards!
enlightenone
@SteveDenver: Three snaps and a circle!!!!
enlightenone
@chrisgn5265: Such a moving story! Thank you; and all the best in this gay life for you and your partner. You worked for it!!!!
enlightenone
@kevininbuffalo: Here, here! I definitely relate.