We Believe?
LGBTQ+ Religious Experiences in Central PA

Early Experiences: Praying the Gay Away

Many others who grew up in Christian churches encountered a “pray the gay away” ideology, struggling for years to change their sexual orientation, praying to God to “solve this problem,” as Sam Deetz explained. Brent Weaver joined ex-gay ministries, until realizing that “not one of [the people in them] ever went from being gay to straight.” Others simply encountered anti-gay information in their churches, such as Joy Verner, who found a book in her church’s library stating that LGBTQ+ individuals burn in hell, teaching her that homosexuality was “definitely bad and definitely not an option.”

July 24, 1998 Patriot News article advocating gay conversion through Jesus Christ

 I started praying silently and screaming in my own mind, 'God help me. God somehow solve this problem. Take this away.'" – Sam Deetz, 2013

Brent Weaver's Experience with Ex-Gay Ministries

I don’t know if it was [...] an intersection of my feelings of being gay and my feelings towards faith —more like—a head-on collision.” – Brent Weaver, 2015

Previous

Next