 |
After at least a score of years serving the most extreme neo-Christian religious reich, most especially Jerry Falwell, Reverend Dr. (James) Mel White decided to jump tracks and take a near opposite stance on the gay issue. This is an autobiographical account of why and how White did so. In a sentence, he did so because he's a gay man. He knew he was a gay man when he was pretending not to be, while serving many of the most outspoken leaders and participants of the anti-gay neo-"Christian Coalition." He knew he was a gay man while acting as their ghost writer of texts which have served to oppress gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals and their families, as well as to earn a substantial income. White also knew he was gay while acting as a Protestant minister, during a time when brave openly gay Protestant ministers were being truthful, and as a consequence, were stripped of their ordinations. And yet, White kept silent, then. 'Living in the closet' is not a form of denial. It is a way to avoid experiencing the consequences US society imposes upon individuals and their families when they are truthfully & openly gay. Being closeted is quite different from being in deep denial. Living in the closet is done knowingly. Deep denial is more of an unconscious process. White's text reveals that he knew all along that he was gay & chose to be closeted in order to avoid becoming cast out of the high-brow colleagues he'd made, served, and from whom he's received many benefits--including a higher class status, reputation, and financial resources. These are among the benefits that anti-gay institutions routinely strip from openly gay individuals and their families. What s remarkable about this text that is that White is candid about putting himself through torturous forms of 'exorcism' to destroy what he considered to be the 'evil demons' that made him gay. One such measure was submitting himself to shock treatment. So called, neo-christian, "reparative therapy," (which is a type of mental abuse that does not heal, it harms instead, according to the AMA, APA, APS and every other credible, national, medically-based organization for certified professionals has written to proclaim) is one of the more self-abusive forms of (mis)treatment that White submitted himself to in order to strive not to be gay. In short, White chronicles doing just about everything but succeeding in killing himself to stop from being a gay man. What is most shocking is just how abusive organized and hidden techniques are to do religious violence to people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. By chronicling his personal life as a married man who became a father while he was a Protestant minister serving the religious anti-gay coalition, readers learn through the intimate account of the right-wing insider what really goes on to destroy the lives of GLBT individuals and their families. White's text brilliantly documenters how such neo-christian techniques nearly killed him. The same techniques did not change his sexual persona. This text should be considered one of the many that were published around the same time that started a spiritual action revolution that still challenges the hocus-pocus, metaphysical, Christian coalition-type of failed attempts to hide, destroy, diminish, discredit, "repair" or some other phony but ever so harmful bunk. This US spiritual action revolution created widespread awareness of religious violence~Read full review
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
