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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.”
Newspaper clipping
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
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  • Home
  • The Long Road
    • Beginning
    • Philadelphia >
      • Philadelphia Part 2
    • Harrisburg
    • Lancaster
    • York
    • Allentown
    • Montgomery >
      • Montgomery Part 2
    • Work Continues >
      • Acknowledgments
  • With Open Hearts & Open Arms
    • Gay LIfe in Pre-Castro Cuba/Homophobia/What's In a Name? Part 1
    • What's in a Name? Part 1 Continued/UMAP/Mattachine Society
    • Leftist Gays in the US/The Mariel Boatlift
    • The Mariel Boatlift Part 2/Resettlement Camps
    • Resettlement Continued/Press Coverage
    • Immigration/What's In a Name? Part 2
    • LGBTQ+ Organizing
    • The Mariel Generation/Life in PA
    • The Eromin Center/Impact of AIDS
    • AIDS in Cuba/LGBTQ+ Rights in Cuba
    • Acknowledgements
  • We Believe?
    • Early Expereriences >
      • Praying the Gay Away
    • Coming Out
    • LGBTQ+ Groups >
      • Religious Life
      • Social Life
      • Political Life
    • Faith and Identity
    • LGBTQ+ Clergy
    • Responses: Backlash >
      • Responses: Acceptance
    • Looking Forward
  • Duty, Honor, Pride
    • Vietnam War Era >
      • Investigations
    • Post-Vietnam Experiences
    • Closing >
      • Citations
  • Other Resources