Comments on: Pre-Med Student Alledgedly Coerced Into Ex-Gay “Therapy”

By: Marc Adams

Marc Adams — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:41:04 +0000

This is why HeartStrong owns http://www.exgay.com. Over the years we have helped many people who have been tricked into thinking they need to live a simulated heterosexual lifestyle.

By: Johnson

Johnson — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:08:20 +0000

He’s put himself into a vicious circle with his parents. My guess is that even after he graduates Med School, his parents will still continue to guilt him the rest of his life by threatening to cut him out of their will or shunning him, or both. Time to be your Man, dude, or Mommy and Daddy will control you the rest of your life.

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:28:35 +0000

There is a foundation for gays and lesbians which supports young people who are attending school and have lossed support from their families. I believe such a foundation supported the daughter Alan Keyes after he stopped his support when she came out in 2005. Is it the ForumFoundation?

It should be made known that there are resources out there.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:19:00 +0000

This is very simple; if the gentleman is truly missing, file a missing persons report. Involve local authorities and the FBI. Just because someone in the family says he is where he is does not qualify – as far as the authorities are concerned, he could be happy as a clam or dead in a ditch until he is heard from, not through intermediaries, but on his own terms.
If he’s “missing” then pursue it legally. The authorities can serve as disinterested parties who can confirm or deny the statements and assertions of all parties. If the guy wants to be left alone, the authorities can lean on the website and the boyfriend to bugger off. If the guy cannot be found or is not produced, they can pursue the parents with potential kidnapping, crossing state boundaries, forcible confinement, and other charges. In fact, the state boundaries issue potentially makes this an FBI case, not a matter for local law enforcement.

The parties involved should put up or shut up – on both sides. Everything else is just posturing and b-s.

By: AdrianT

AdrianT — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:32:58 +0000

The global attention (headline news in Romanian tabloid newspapers, of all things…) given to this sordid affair can only be a good thing. We hear too much of young, vulnerablke gay teens being spirited away into such camps. With the Internet that can’t happen in secrecy now, and lone cries for help can gain world headlines.

All Travis had to do was to tell Bryce to make a message on his voice box, in those critical hours between 10pm on 6/13 and 2pm on 6/14 when his phone was apparently confiscated, and there could have been grounds to involve the law.

With his new found megastar status, young Bryce will not simply be able to return to El Dorado now, as if nothing has happened.

By: JJQR

JJQR — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:32:45 +0000

Sounds like a 23-year-old who decided it was more important to have mommy and daddy pay for medical school than to go with his true sexuality. I wouldn’t hold it against him, but I don’t feel sorry for him either.

By: Burr

Burr — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:50:10 +0000

No doubt it’s an extremely difficult choice, but it’s one that needs to be made. I can’t believe he’s letting himself be blackmailed like this. When is it ever going to end? At some point you have to be your own man. Better now than never. Most med school students graduate with a lot of debt. He’ll have plenty of company.

By: fannie

fannie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:43:47 +0000

Personally, I am having trouble scrounging up all that much sympathy for Faulkner. His situation is very different than the imposition of “ex-gay therapy” on a minor who really is at the whim of her or his parents.

He is a 23-year-old adult who made the choice of going to ex-gay therapy and retaining his parents money over the choice of not going through therapy and losing his parents’ financial support. Lots of people make it through grad school and college without parental financial or emotional support (I am one of them) so to say that this guy didn’t have a choice isn’t realistic.

So, while yes, I think it is unfortunate that his parents are not accepting and have bought into the “ex-gay therapy” line, I hope he remembers that he is in control of his own destiny. If we wants to be a doctor, he will find a way to make it work with or without his parents help.

By: John K.

John K. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:38:27 +0000

Some people here apparently don’t grasp the coercive effect of religion on people. You think this kid has a choice? Please.

The problem is, he probably doesn’t know about the thousands of people pulling for him now through that website and others. I’ve seen some talk of people trying to get donations together so he can sustain himself for a while if his parents cut him off financially. But, the monsters at whatever facility he’s at will NEVER let him see that. If he saw it, then maybe his choices would become clearer to him. Until then, his parents and his religion will continue to cut off his choices.

By: Swampfox

Swampfox — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:26:50 +0000

I just have to wish him the best. With all the publicity that this story is getting, perhaps his parents will come to their senses.