Boy Erased
by Garrard Conley
Garrard Conley’s memoir, titled Boy Erased, shares his story of being sent to a gay conversion
therapy institution as a nineteen-year-old growing up in the south. Garrard grows up in a very conservative town with
parents who are very religious, his father being a Baptist minister. The story begins with Garrard contemplating
how “far” to go with his girlfriend, Chloe, but he is constantly struggling
with a nagging feeling within, saying it doesn’t feel right to be with
her. He eventually cuts off all
communication with her shortly after evading a night that had the potential for
them to have sex at her house. Garrard
then goes away to college and is raped by an older student, David. After feeling rebuffed by Garrard, David later
calls Garrad’s parents to share that their son is gay while also telling most
of the students at the school. Garrard’s
Mom comes and picks him up from school the minute they find out. She and her husband decide the only recourse
is to have God “get this evil” out of him.
They enroll him in a “ex-gay conversion” therapy institute. Garrard captures the horrific experience and
the way he comes to terms with his sexuality and escapes the ultra-right staff
at the “Love in Action” – LIA, where counselors and ministers worked to guilt
those who were sent there to escape their evil ways. Frightening to think this is real and not
fiction. I hear the book will become a
movie with Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe in the fall.
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