gaynapping

Is Bryce Faulkner Missing? Or Did Exodus International Really Steal Him Away?

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Hahaha. Remember when your friends “pulled” you toward the gay lifestyle? That’s what the parents of 23-year-old Bryce Faulkner are claiming happened to their son. It’s not like they forced him to try out conversion therapy. He just ran in that direction because, after racking up more than 10,000 minutes of calls to his boyfriend in a single month, he’s questioning his sexuality!

Faulker’s gone missing, according to the “Save Bryce” website, shoveled away into the shadows of Exodus International, which claims it can cure gays from their gayness in all sorts of non-gay ways. But Bryce’s mom Debra says that after having a relationship with a one Travis Swanson, 24, Bryce just wanted some time to figure things out. Which he’s totally free to do without her coercion, apparently!

There’s even a statement from Bryce: “Every decision that I’ve made has been based solely upon my beliefs and I have not been manipulated or coerced by anyone to do anything.” Well, it was delivered by a family rep, not the still-“missing” Bryce.

Which means Brett Harris, who’s running the “Save Bryce” site, isn’t letting up. It’s been nearly 40 days since Bryce has been heard from. Hopefully like some rehab centers, Exodus is at least offering facials and massages.

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Swanson, of Oshkosh, Wis., told FOXNews.com that he met Faulkner at a bar in Panama City, Fla., during spring break in March. The two quickly hit it off, he said.

Swanson left Florida just two days later, but he and Faulkner kept in touch via Skype “every single night” in the following months. Swanson said their chats were so frequent that he notched a whopping 9,700 minutes on his cell phone in May alone.

“Things started getting serious in the months of April and May,” said Swanson. “He told me that he loved me.”

In late May, Swanson said he and Faulkner met in Little Rock, Ark., for what turned out to be the last time.

“Bryce said he’d take me on the most amazing date of my life and definitely fulfilled,” Swanson said. “Dinner, candles, flowers — he went all out.”

He said the relationship flourished until mid-June, when Debra Faulkner gained access to her son’s e-mail account and discovered Bryce’s secret.

The next time they spoke, Swanson said, Bryce was inconsolable.

“He was crying really, really bad, I mean, like uncontrollably crying,” he said. “He said [Bryce’s parents] made him read quotes aloud from the Bible and said that he’s going to hell.”

The following day, Swanson said he received a text from Faulkner indicating that his parents wanted to take him to a “place in Pensacola” to address his sexuality. Swanson would later call the Union County Sheriff’s Department to say that Faulkner was being taken against his will by his “fundamental Baptist” parents.

A spokeswoman for Union County Sheriff Ken Jones said the department had no information on Faulkner.

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