David and Debra Faulkner of El Dorado, Arkansas, so "loved" their gay son that they gave him two choices: He could either enter a punishing fourteen month "ex-gay" rehabilitation camp or lose everything he owned and end up homeless on the streets. These "Christian" parents were so consumed with homophobia that they made this declaration after breaking into their son's personal email account and learning that he was - gasp! - in love with a man.
From Ergonomical Ministries: Bryce Faulkner is a bright young pre-med student who, like many in college, was totally dependent upon his parents for survival. His car, his cell phone, his education, even his job was all connected to his parents purse strings. Bryce was making plans to come out to his parents, but before he had the opportunity to carry out these plans, his mother found his email password and discovered communications between he and his lover Travis of Green Bay, WI. As any person from the south, especially those whom have a conservative fundamentalist family and has come out of the closet knows, the family can become quite volatile in their reaction to the news. Bryce is no exception to this. In order to manipulate Bryce into accepting "treatment" for his homosexuality, they took away everything and left him the choice of becoming homeless and destitute or going into therapy. As anyone can imagine, this wasn't much of a choice. Being in the closet in a small town left him no one to speak to or to seek help to get him through the transition from the closet and into the light of day. His family took away every resource he had and left him with no phone to call for help, a car to drive to any help that might be out there and no money to even take a bus to Wisconsin to be with his lover. The program he is going into is a 14 month program, one of the most severe and intense of these kinds of programs.
Bryce has been missing for twenty-three days now. EM is asking that anyone with information about young Faulkner's whereabouts to contact the site's administrator. Waymon Hudson at Bilerco Project writes: The most likely place that Bryce has been sent to is Exodus International, the "ex-gay" organization that claims to pray away the gay by using damaging "conversion therapy," or one of their many subsidiaries. They have been universally condemned by every major mental health organization in the world... The family of Bryce's boyfriend has set up a webpage and Facebook group asking for help in finding Bryce. They are doing their best to find a way to contact him and give him the support he needs to get away from the horrors of Exodus. They are trying to give him the option of deciding for himself and not being forced into this damaging faux therapy. This type of exposure of the Ex-Gay Movement from all sides, whether it be the amazing work of sites like the Box Turtle Bulletin or Beyond Ex-Gay or user generated content like the "gay exorcism" video that went viral online, is helping expose the dangerous reality of conversion therapy.
Hudson is absolutely correct. The only way to fight these horrific instances of forced "conversions" is to spread the word via the Internet. Parents should love and support their kids, not sacrifice them to the sort of god who would rather see a child living on the streets than accept his sexual orientation. David and Debra Faulkner may just as well build an altar in the backyard and plunge a knife into Bryce's soul. Either way, they're killing his spirit and bringing sorrow to people who love him as he is. (Top: Bryce Faulkner; Photo art, center, by Daniel Gonzales.)
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What a heartbreaking story... and how selfish of his parents. Poor guy, he must have felt so helpless and alone.
Posted by: Bee Girl | July 08, 2009 at 04:58 PM
He's going to hate them when he gets out of that place. He'll start to realize that they don't love him because, lets face it, loving partents wouldn't put a kid through that situation. I've read a lot of interviews with people who've "gone inside" and "come out" of those places changed - but not changed the way these places promise. Bryce will come out harder, and depressed, and less trusting. He just won't be a happy person anymore. And, he'll know who's to blame. See, these places are ALL about the parents... cuz, it's only their OWN feelings they really give a damn about. I pity the boy.
Posted by: Amanda | July 08, 2009 at 06:04 PM
God did not judge the parents, then why did the parents judge thier God-given son? I pray God judges his parents with grace and mercy for thier sin of playing God. Amen.
Posted by: Br. Michael | July 12, 2009 at 03:17 PM
I'm an older gay male and would like to send a few bucks to whomever is trying to rescue Bryce from Exodus or wherever he is. please advise.
Posted by: Tim Johnson | July 20, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Tim, just click on the first link in this post. I'm sure they would appreciate your support.
Posted by: Max P. | July 20, 2009 at 01:55 PM
A friend and I were discussing the movie "But I'm A Cheerleader" and he had no idea that this satirised real "gay conversion camps" that exist in the USA. Neither was he aware how nasty and mind warping they could be. Watching the movie was empowering.
Posted by: SayBlade | August 14, 2009 at 01:32 PM