Any other Gaybros been through any form of ex-gay therapy? What was your experience and how have you handled it since?

When I was 19 I voluntarily went into a program that sought to help me embrace heterosexuality (now 24.) I'm the first in a couple of generations not to be a minister and I thought my life would be significantly easier if I was straight. My parents offered (didn't force, but strongly encouraged) to get me some help. I started working with a group that did theophostic prayer ministry. It's a form of Christian counseling that supposedly helps you overcome a ton of issues--phobias, eating disorders, anxiety problems, and others, including homosexuality. It operates that all of these things are not root of your problem, but merely symptoms of an issue that happened a long time ago. So you dig through your life using prayer and asking God to reveal what issue had triggered me into believing this "lie" that I was gay.

It was hard. Taxing. Emotionally devastating. I ended up telling my parents that I didn't want to go back and they understood.

Since, I've grown a lot and have a pretty mature attitude towards the whole experience. Everyone I encountered was helping me out of love--yes, they were extremely misguided, but their intentions were to save me from something that they legitimately believed would damn me to hell. I don't harbor any resentment, but I am interested to see if there are those of you that do.

How did you handle it? Are you emotionally stronger because of it, or did it cripple you and your self worth? I've met guys in person who fall on both sides of that lines and it hurts me that there are men out there who struggle with the effects of this kind of therapy. I'd also be willing to answer anymore questions y'all might have about my experience.