The film tells the story of how two unlikely friends — straight psychologist Davison and gay activist Charles Silverstein — changed the psychology world for the better after first crossing paths 50 years ago at a convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavioral Therapies in New York City. He presented a workshop at the convention that year on “new and more humane” ways the help gay men change their sexual orientation that didn’t involve any kind of punitive aversion methods such as using painful electric shocks applied to the fingers. In attendance was Chuck Silverstein, then working on his doctorate at Rutgers University, who had been publicly critical of Davison for using a conversion therapy on gay patients that involved Playboy magazines. Silverstein was able to convince Gerald for a fateful, career-changing decision.
Davison fully credits Silverstein with helping him to realize “it’s not whether you can do it, it’s whether you should do it. Davison is proud of his role in history but accepts that, even 50 years later, some people continue to view homosexuality as something to be “cured.” In the words of film maker and director, what attracted him towards the subject was the openness with which both these people approached each other. “Chuck’s openness to go up to Jerry and introduce himself and not write him off, and Jerry’s openness to change his mind and listen and then admit that he was wrong. All of those things resonated with me. They were so confident and true to who they were. They were not only courageous, they were smart and I think definitely ahead of their time.”
I have recently seen a few documentaries which somehow have depicted the similar stories of conversion therapies over a period of time. So, a much as this topic is extremely important to me, personally I did not get much out of this documentary besides the fact that a doctor realized what an awful job he was doing and he decided to do everything in his power to make things right, which I appreciate. But other than that, this documentary according to me had nothing new to offer. Thankfully, with a runtime of just over an hour, it makes its point rather honestly and directly. (4/10)
Comments