CAMASSIA replies to me. Yeah, I think I was overreading her initial post, which is what I was afraid of. Sigh. Anyway, I apologize for the minor kerfuffle; at least it did prompt this nice line: “One of the odd things about the Christian narrative is that it affirms the worst-case scenario, and at the same time says everything is going to work out wonderfully anyway. It’s that paradox that makes it the most hopeful of all religions, in my... Read more

LINKS AND LAMENESS: Lameness first: I’m really, really tired, so I won’t be posting mail from you all until tomorrow. Sorry…. Now, links: Camassia says stuff about minority status and group standards. I find myself oddly defensive about this post; I’m not sure if I’m overreading or what. I feel like I’m being implicitly criticized (in the section on original sin) for being self-indulgent, which I think is inaccurate in this particular instance. She also combines different kinds of difference... Read more

DON’T COVER MY FACE WITH YOUR HEART (Or, Love, Love Me Don’t): You use that word so often. I do not think it means what you think it means. Read more

CLOSER TO HEAVEN: I’m mulling over something that might be a major underlying problem with ex-gay theology (as vs. spiritual practice, psychological theories, or what have you). I know I’m coming at this from an outsider’s perspective, so I don’t want to assume that I know what’s what; but I figured I’d post this in case it is illuminating to anyone. The possible insight is this: Ex-gay theology/ideology seeks to immanentize the eschaton. No–hey, wait, let me explain!! “Immanentizing the... Read more

INTERMISSION: Not (very) related to the other stuff I’m posting about today–Agenda Bender on a poem by Pasolini. Read more

LINKS: Later tonight, I hope to post a small mailbag and maybe something else. We’ll see if I can order my thoughts. For now, some links: Peterson Toscano’s website (the “Doin’ Time at the Homo No Mo’ Halfway House” guy). At Ex-Gay Watch, Joe Riddle (whom I interviewed for the NRO piece) comments. Dappled Things (blogging Catholic priest) comments. Sarx (E’rn Orthodox guy) comments: “I too would not be where I am were it not for my sexual attraction to... Read more

“HOMO NO MO’?”: In which I attend an ex-gay conference. The next four posts are all stuff about the conference, or ex-gay ministry/ideology in general–stuff I couldn’t fit into the NRO piece. I expect I’ll be posting more on this subject today or tomorrow as well. Read more

PLUS A SURPRISING NUMBER OF FOXY CHICKS: In case people are wondering what the June 10 Love Won Out conference was actually like (since I didn’t really have space to describe it in the NRO piece), here are my general impressions. The conference was held in Immanuel’s Church; I got the impression, though I could be wrong, that this is a predominantly black church. The crowd seemed to be about 1/3 Immanuel’s members. The rest of us were a big... Read more

PULL APART THE DOUBLE HELIX LIKE A WISHBONE: I should say right now that I do believe there are “origin stories” for homosexuality, and that it might make sense to introspect and consider which aspects of your life may have influenced your sexual orientation. I wrote a short story inspired by the idea of a kaleidoscope of different possible origin stories or types of homosexuality. Some of them even have elements in common with Nicolosi’s view; yeah, I have known... Read more

ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY: One of the reasons the family-dynamics origin stories (and the gender-dysfunction/salvation-through-pantyhose ones) don’t really work for me is that they reduce what I experienced as an existential alienation into a psychological one. First off, I didn’t feel “different from all the other girls”; I felt different from all the other humans. (I suspect boys’ reactions are more likely to be gender-linked, though.) More importantly, in some respects my sexual orientation turned out to be the key... Read more