- Joined
- Jan 27, 2010
- Messages
- 4,456
- Reaction score
- 637
This may be more of a sandbox question, but hopefully some of you have personal experiences/anecdotes to share...
I have a young gay character who has just run away from his fundamentalist Christian community because they were going to send him for reprogramming into an ex-gay (for the second time, after the first attempt didn't work).
He's internalized a lot of the social values he was raised with. He truly believes his desires are wrong and perverted. He shies away from any thoughts related to sex, and insofar as he has a plan for the future at all, he's planning to be celibate and/or guilt-wracked.
I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of his attitudes right now, and I feel like I know where I want him to be (still Christian, but with a less literal interpretation of the rules of the Bible).
I'm struggling with the steps he'll likely take to get there. I don't want there to be one bog epiphany where he's magically 'cured'; I'd like to trace some of his steps along the path.
I figure I can have him make some gay friends, some of whom can ask some pointed questions about his beliefs, and this will plant the seeds of a doubt.
What else?
He can read... I'm thinking mostly internet stuff, but if anyone has suggestions for good books/authors he could discover, that'd be great.
Has anyone followed a similar path themselves? Not necessarily with homosexuality, but with any movement from sexually repressed to... well, probably still to sexually conservative. I don't want him to go overboard. But anecdotes would be more than welcome!
Thanks for any help with this.
I have a young gay character who has just run away from his fundamentalist Christian community because they were going to send him for reprogramming into an ex-gay (for the second time, after the first attempt didn't work).
He's internalized a lot of the social values he was raised with. He truly believes his desires are wrong and perverted. He shies away from any thoughts related to sex, and insofar as he has a plan for the future at all, he's planning to be celibate and/or guilt-wracked.
I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of his attitudes right now, and I feel like I know where I want him to be (still Christian, but with a less literal interpretation of the rules of the Bible).
I'm struggling with the steps he'll likely take to get there. I don't want there to be one bog epiphany where he's magically 'cured'; I'd like to trace some of his steps along the path.
I figure I can have him make some gay friends, some of whom can ask some pointed questions about his beliefs, and this will plant the seeds of a doubt.
What else?
He can read... I'm thinking mostly internet stuff, but if anyone has suggestions for good books/authors he could discover, that'd be great.
Has anyone followed a similar path themselves? Not necessarily with homosexuality, but with any movement from sexually repressed to... well, probably still to sexually conservative. I don't want him to go overboard. But anecdotes would be more than welcome!
Thanks for any help with this.