At the end, Michael Bussee says that "as long as there is homophobia, there will be some form of an organization like Exodus". He stops short of pointing the finger at religion which has been established by science as the primary source of homophobia.
What these ex-gay people are exhibiting by identifying with their oppressors is nothing short of Stockholm Syndrome. It is like the American POWs who sided with their North Korean captors. People will rationalize anything that they want to believe in if they are desperate or vulnerable enough. As a gay atheist who did once attend church to find God, I question why the documentary did not focus on religion itself instead of conversion therapy which it spawned.
Why do some LGBTQ people still need to believe in Jesus and remain in the same religion that demonizes them, when they can get the sense of belonging they desire from within the LGBTQ community? Yvette Cantu said that she misses being part of the religious community, yet she had quite readily cast off her membership to the LGBTQ community in the 1990s.
I could not help noticing that the vast majority of people in this documentary are white, in spite of the diversity in the LGBTQ community. This is symptomatic of my experience as an Asian man in a LGBTQ community that does not treat its ethnic minorities equally. There is a growing body of evidence about discrimination and racism within the LGBTQ community that result in poorer mental health outcomes for those who are affected by such prejudice. Perhaps that could be Ryan Murphy's next project, seeing how prodigious he is at documenting and validating the LGBTQ experience.
What these ex-gay people are exhibiting by identifying with their oppressors is nothing short of Stockholm Syndrome. It is like the American POWs who sided with their North Korean captors. People will rationalize anything that they want to believe in if they are desperate or vulnerable enough. As a gay atheist who did once attend church to find God, I question why the documentary did not focus on religion itself instead of conversion therapy which it spawned.
Why do some LGBTQ people still need to believe in Jesus and remain in the same religion that demonizes them, when they can get the sense of belonging they desire from within the LGBTQ community? Yvette Cantu said that she misses being part of the religious community, yet she had quite readily cast off her membership to the LGBTQ community in the 1990s.
I could not help noticing that the vast majority of people in this documentary are white, in spite of the diversity in the LGBTQ community. This is symptomatic of my experience as an Asian man in a LGBTQ community that does not treat its ethnic minorities equally. There is a growing body of evidence about discrimination and racism within the LGBTQ community that result in poorer mental health outcomes for those who are affected by such prejudice. Perhaps that could be Ryan Murphy's next project, seeing how prodigious he is at documenting and validating the LGBTQ experience.