Boy Erased: Learning the Right Lessons from a Tragic Personal Story

A Review of the Film and Book, Boy Erased, by Dr Christopher Rosik

Boy Erased, a movie based on the book of the same title by Garrad Conley, tells the story of the author’s experience at a “conversion therapy” program interspersed with retrospective details from his childhood and closes with his embracing of a gay identity.

The film has immense star power with Russell Crow playing the role of the author’s father and Nicole Kidman portraying his mother.

Activists and politicians are hoping the film will be a significant aid in promoting legislation to ban such “therapy.” Yet the important legacy of this work should not be as a justification for legislation, but rather a warning to the more conservative sectors of the faith community that caring for people with same-sex attractions must be informed by non-politicised scientific information and sound ethical and theological sensibilities. Without this, persons seeking to understand, manage, and even possibly change their unwanted same-sex attractions within some religious contexts will continue to be at risk of emotional harm and spiritual alienation.

Download the full review here (This article was first posted by the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity)