I just finished watching Queerstralia , which is a three-part documentary about the hidden history of LGBTQIA+ people in Australia. It’s hosted by a comedian named Zoe Coombs Marr. To be honest, I didn't know who she was before this, so it took me a little while to get used to her specific style of joking around. The show covers a huge amount of time, starting from when Australia was a prison colony for the British all the way to famous movies like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert . It looks at how being gay was treated as a crime, the stories of trans pioneers, and even "bushrangers" (outlaws) who dressed in clothes of the opposite sex. It also goes into the history of the Mardi Gras festival, drag culture, and how gay marriage finally became legal there. The host starts the show by jokingly saying, "I’m a comedian, I’m not qualified," which tells you right away it's not going to be a stiff or boring history lesson. Over three episodes that are an hour long...
In an interesting set of interviews, we actually meet those people who once led the charge of the whole gay conversion movement and who believed that was the right thing to do. It is a painful behind-the-scenes look at one of the cruelest endeavors undertaken by institutionalized homophobia. The primary focus is four such individuals and the documentary maker skillfully interweaves present-day interviews with archival footage of these prominent figures in the movement — all of whom have renounced their roles and are now living as out gays or bisexuals. I honestly don't know any of these folks from before but looking at all the archival footage shown in this documentary, I can see some of these were very very prominent figures who were deeply involved till as early as Prop 8 in California. We meet a former gay man, John Paulk and a lesbian woman, now happily married with kids. John was one of the primary founders of. The Exodus movement, one of the biggest groups who encourages people to come to Jesus and be straight. The extent of their power reaches to all political circles and that's what scared me the most . All these people in the footage shown make some very compelling arguments against gay and lesbian people and how Jesus and God are the only things that can save them, while clearly lying to themselves.
There are some very interesting detailed account of these people, including a girl , who at 16, was forced to join one such groups by her mother and finally took charge of her life and got married to her beautiful partner. A momentous and joyous occasion. Sadly the film never indulges into the extent of damage done bu such movements. The film notes at the end that “a national survey found that LGBTQ youth who experienced conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide,” and a teary-eyed protagonist confesses he believes he has blood on his hands. The documentary was very very interesting and worth watching. Just wish there was a little more depth on the extent and impact these four protagonists had on other's lives. They have sorted their own life and that's good; but in the process, the extent of bad they have had done was never challenged. (6/10)
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Interrestingly enough, some months ago I saw a documentary about the same subject in France. They were saying it came from a US organization called... Exodus! The way it's done in the US is a totally different level though. It also gave some testimonies of parents who would in all good faith send their children there, thinking it would help them. And now utterly regret it, given the damages it did.
As you said Golu, it would have been good to have a global analysis of how it fails/succeeds. But I guess testimonies must be hard to obtain.
Scary is the right word.