Former Gay Youth Leader Opens Up About 'Conversion' and Ridicule

Former GLBT publisher and GLBT Youth advocate Michael Glatze says that the gay community subjected him to such scathing ridicule that he had to withdraw and "process" for a while. Now Glatze is back to talk about God--but not, he says, to emphasize the "ex-gay" aspect of his story.

Nonetheless, in a Nov. 11 article posted at anti-gay Web publication LifeSiteNews, Glatze dismissed gays as living "in the grip of this sin" of homosexuality."

Moreover, Glatze said, gays' sexuality is "a deviation" that he claims can be "cured." Added the former GLBT youth advocate, "What is so ground-breaking is how successful [GLBT equality] activists have been at clouding out reality."

Glatze's "conversion" occurred in 2005, when he left his post as the publisher of GLBT youth magazine Young Gay America, which he had started with Benjie Nycum, who was his same-sex partner for ten years. Glatze came out as an "ex-gay" in 2007, sparking fresh controversy around the claim that gays can be "converted" to heterosexuality, a claim that is not supported by the much of the mental health field.

Indeed, mental health experts warn that attempts to "cure" gays are more likely to inflict serious harm than to lead to lasting results. Many "ex gays" say that they continue to "struggle" with sexual attraction toward people of the same gender, while others report that in the process of squelching same-sex desire they have become, in effect, asexual, not conscious of sexual or romantic responsiveness to either gender.

Even so, some people have reported that they have been able to transfer their romantic affections to individuals of the opposite gender. The question then becomes whether such individuals were ever gay in the first place, or whether they were heterosexuals involved in same-sex activity for some reason for a period of time.

For anti-gay social and religious activists, however, stories of "gay" men and women who were "converted" to heterosexuality are embraced as a blueprint for the eventual "curing" of all homosexuals--and as justification for denying gay individuals and their families equal rights and protections before the law.

Belief in the possibility that counseling and prayer can "cure" gays also leads some religious people to enter, or to commit their children to, facilities dedicated to "curing" gays. The reported commitment to such a facility of medical student Bryce Faulkner to such a facility by his fundamentalist parents last summer raised concerns in the GLBT community about an "ex-gay netherworld" into which people might vanish. GLBT news sites speculated on the treatment of people sent away to be "converted" to heterosexuality, including claims that "converts" are denied permission to maintain any contact with friends who might be gay or who might question the validity of attempts to "cure" gays.

A Wikipedia article on Glatze says that his "conversion" took place after a health scare that sent him into Christianity. His father, an agnostic, had died of a heart condition in Glatze's youth. Glatze became a Mormon for less than a year.

Glatze indicated that his was a genuine conversion experience, and told LifeSiteNews that he is now "extremely happy, and able to have a very good, normal, healthy life."

In an experience that parallels what many GLBT people go through, Glatze said that his status as a professed "ex-gay" resulted in his being "trashed by people who didn't know me to such an extent that I felt I needed to go inside, more, to further understand everything I was discussing."

Moreover, Glatze described responses of anger and hostility that are familiar to many gays--only in his case, those responses came from the gay community itself. "The fury that comes from 'gay' people against people like me can be vicious and vile, and it can hurt," Glatze told LifeSiteNews (the quotation marks around the word gay being part of the original text at the site).

"They stop at nothing to make me feel ashamed for my current stance on homosexuality, and to try to make me doubt what I have experienced in my life," Glatze continued. "I got to a point where I decided to be 'silent,' and turn down offers to speak, and process," he said.

In the interim, Glatze says, he has come to embrace a heterosexual life--which he contrasts against the lives of gays with pathologizing language. "I go to church. I've dated girls," Glatze told LifeSiteNews. "And, I continue to understand the ramifications of the homosexual sin in increasingly deep ways, as I encounter others in the grip of this sin, learn more about human nature, and watch my own experiences--comparing them to the way I might've responded or acted in certain situations just a few years ago."

Added Glatze, "There are countless individuals who have successfully left the homosexual lifestyle, have gotten away from the habits of homosexual sin, and who have happy and healthy lives.

"Part of the problem with 'getting the word out,'" Glatze continued, "is that we're actually just talking about normal human experience. It's not the kind of thing where you feel the need to take hours out of your life, run around shouting, 'People breathe air!'"

Glatze went on to call heterosexuality the "obvious" standard for human sexual behavior. "Heterosexuality is normal human sexuality, while homosexuality is a deviation," he told the anti-gay site. "These are obvious things. What is so ground-breaking is how successful activists have been at clouding out reality."

However, Glatze indicated that he was now approaching the issue as a person of faith rather than as a self-proclaimed "ex-gay." Said the former youth advocate, "I don't want to be some kind of spokesperson that makes this issue seem too much about me."

Even so, his "ex-gay" status anchored the LifeSiteNews story. "I think as the angry media continues to perpetuate the myth that homosexuality can't be cured," Glatze stated, "I want to continue to send the message of truth in opposition to that lie, supported by the fact that I have just continued to be happier, more confident, and much, much more healthy--and much less, less gay--since 2007 and the years before."