I read an interesting interview with author, James Hannham at Salon about his new book, “God Says No”. It’s a fictional work based on a B/black man in the South dealing with his homosexuality and eventually going to reparative therapy (also called “change ministries”). If the book is as interesting as the article, it could be something for the bookshelf.
Having been involved in reparative therapy myself before I came to my senses, I remember how being in the closet seem to magnify my lust and I definitely saw other men in my group reparative therapy sessions who identified with that. I remember one Saturday morning where we sat in a semi-circle facing the therapist at MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving (honestly don’t remember our instructor was the infamous Christopher Austin or not), and I noticed the men seem cordial but cautious about touching one another. Even Paul, my program buddy at the time, was fine with handshakes but timid if I offer a hug after the group session. I felt sorry for the guys, however I knew that I just couldn’t live that lie that with a few more sessions I could “change”. And it really didn’t help for me to be a somewhat sheltered B/black guy in a room of some moderately handsome W/white men around my age because of my own issues with ethnicity, culture, and sexual curiousity–all magnified in the dark closet like the heat of human touch.
Again, check out the article, and see if it’s one for your bookshelf.
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