Pray Away focuses in particular on Exodus International, the non-profit, inter-denominational organization founded in 1976 by five evangelical Christians, which propelled and popularized the idea that it was possible – and preferable – to change one’s sexual orientation.
The 100-minute film, directed by Kristine Stolakis and executive produced by Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum, examines the destructively common practice and its larger “ex-gay” movement, often led by LGBTQ+ people who themselves believed they had changed, several of whom later renounced their teachings.Īs the film outlines, conversion therapy is neither a specific practice nor singular movement it’s “this complex amalgamation of old pseudo-psychology that’s disproven, the spiritual belief that you don’t have a place in God’s kingdom if you don’t change, and then this culture that surrounds you with these messages that are inescapable”, Stolakis told the Guardian.
Rodgers was one of at least 700,000 people in the United States to undergo “conversion therapy” – treatments, counseling, and community that pressures LGBTQ+ people to “change” their sexuality, and a belief system exposed with searing lucidity in Pray Away.
