Gay Conversion Therapy: Bad, in Boy Erased


In 2004 at age 19 Garrard Conley entered Love in Action, a Christian fundamentalist gay-conversion program, designed to lead him away from acting on his homosexuality. Eventually he escaped, and wrote about the horrors of the program in Boy Erased.

Conley’s memoir is steeped in the mental gymnastics he needed to do to live in small-town Arkansas with his loving Baptist parents and come to terms with his sexuality. The text is cerebral, and Conley does a good job of guiding his reader through the conflicts between his upbringing and his nature. When he struggles, contemplating his own suicide for example, the narrative feels urgent and scary.

The actual events inside Love in Action are sparse, and the majority of the book is dedicated to the inner struggle between faith, family, and his gayness. The kick off point for Conley’s entering Love in Action, his rape by a boy at his college and that boy’s subsequent outing of Conley to his parents, is explored throughout the book. The book stands as not only a send-up of what his religion demands, but also of what society demands of a man who is sexually assaulted. Spoiler: a lot of what it demands is silence.

Conley’s reciprocal love for his parents is a main theme, and they become a steady point in Conley’s growth, despite their initial disgust with their son’s sexuality. By the end, the three are heroes, and hatred and denial of one’s true self turn out looking pretty bad.

Thanks to Jim Taber for recommending Boy Erased.

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