After attending the Family and Friends Weekend at Love in Action, Marvin's aunt, Sylvia, shares her eyewitness report.
John Smid and me-Graduation 1998 (above) & John Smid today (left) By now many have heard that Tennessee's Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities determined that the "ex-gay" program, Love in Action, is operating two “unlicensed mental health supportive living facilities”. LIA has until Friday, September 23 to respond. If LIA statements in Eartha Jane Melzer's article are indicative to how the "change" program might respond, we may see LIA change right before our eyes from a clinical mental health compound into a house of praise and worship. Gerard Wellman, business administrator for Love in Action, and a former Love in Action client, said Sept. 13 that the organization has been in contact with the state but would not comment further. “As a church, we operate under a different set of rules,” Wellman said. Curious, and what rules might these be? What is even more curious is that according to LIA's site only one staff member ...

Comments
I think that's got to be one of the most hurtful things Love In Action and similar programs do is that they heap blame upon parents. That is just plain sick.
Oh well. I'm holding out hope that Sylvia will get through and she and Marvin will drive across Tennessee and visit Dollywood.
Poor Marvin. It's so sad...
Poor Marvin!
j.
I hope she's real, but she and Marvin's mother will have to let him experience what he needs to experience (My partner and I cal it "touching the hot stove.") before he comes to the end of his struggle and let's go of what he wishes were true about himself. A forced letting go will lead to nothing good.