Anyone care for a brief and perhaps mildly amusing story regarding the new film “Love, Simon” and Focus on the Family?
Alright, gather round.
The new film “Love, Simon” is a romantic teen comedy about a gay kid.
And naturally, Focus on the Family’s movie review site, Plugged In, has some thoughts! pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/…
(Background: more on Plugged In from me back in the MTV days here mtv.com/news/2928560/w…)
Now at the bottom of PI's review of "Love, Simon" is the following, with links to FOTF's resources on "homosexuality." 
Among those resources are articles on conversion therapy and the alleged "thousands" of individuals who are, according to FOTF, no longer LGBT.
Which is FASCINATING because FOTF itself used to run an 'ex-gay' ministry -- until everyone involved with it disavowed it and it was quietly shut down.
The ministry was called "Love Won Out," founded in 1998.
Oh, and what's "Exodus"? That would be Exodus International, the largest of the "ex gay" Christian ministry organizations, founded in 1976.
In 2009, Exodus International took over Love Won Out, as noted in this press release from FOTF. focusonthefamily.com/about/newsroom…
But then something happened, something both shocking and completely unsurprising:
In 2013, John Paulk, who founded Love Won Out way back in 1998, came out and said:
1.) I’m not, uh, ex-gay.
2.) Conversion therapy doesn’t work.
In 2013, John Paulk, who founded Love Won Out way back in 1998, came out and said:
1.) I’m not, uh, ex-gay.
2.) Conversion therapy doesn’t work.
And then that Alan Chambers guy — the president of Exodus International — shut down the whole dang organization after 37 years and apologized to LGBT people for the whole damn thing.
So in short: Focus on the Family’s own efforts to make gay people not gay — efforts they are still touting, in 2018 — collapsed spectacularly after causing unimaginable pain to thousands of people, including the “ex gay” leaders they promoted.
Fin.
Addendum: the realization that being gay didn’t mean I had to be permanently cut off from God or Christianity was a huge one, and organizations like Exodus robbed so many people of their ability to feel that, too.
Think of how many people abandoned the church altogether, and their families along with it.
(This mostly SFW video goes here, thanks to my new favorite show “Big Mouth”: )
