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German Women's Magazine Visits Ex-Gay Movement


What do Uma Thurman, Heath Ledger, Alan Chambers and I have in common? Our images and words appear in the October edition of Maxi magazine, the German women's fashion/lifestyle monthly.

I won't post all of Tina Kopperschmidt's five page article here (go out and buy your own :-), but from what I can decipher, she spends several pages writing about her experience at this year's Exodus Conference. Towards the end of the article, she refers to ex-ex-gays and quotes "Daniel, 25" (Daniel "Ex-gay Watch" Gonzales perhaps?) He says,
Eines aber bereue ich besonders: dass mein Coming-out drei Jahre zu spät dam. Damals war ich am Collge und habe eine Menge wunderbarer Typen verpasst, mit denen ich tolle Beziehungen hätte führen können.
Which according to Babelfish translated into garbled English says,
However I particularly repent one: that mine Coming out three years too late dam. At that time I was at the Collge and a quantity of marvelous types missed, with which I could have led mad relations.
Mad relations indeed.

Here is an English tranlation of some remarks by Ms. Kpperschmidt and below parital images from the article.



Comments

Dan said…
Oh that's too funny I'm going to have to go digging through old emails and post 1) my email 2) their German and 3) the translation back into English.

I'll also post a pic of that hot boy.
3:59 PM
Dan said…
Via the email interview in response to the question, "Do you regret anything?" I responded:

The only thing I regret is the three extra years it took me to come-out finally. I was in college during that time and missed out on alot of wonderful guys I could have formed relationships with.
9:25 PM
Christine Bakke said…
I love babelfish.

That translation actually made me snort. Loudly. And so forcefully that it actually hurt.

I'm glad no one else reads these comments. I'd be really embarrassed.
12:44 AM
Christine Bakke said…
I like having fun on "the internets" (thanks, Al!) so I decided to babelfish the little "About me" thing on my blog from English to Dutch and back again.

"I am a woman on a travel. I do not make my own knowledge after a lot of years of trying a lot of things be I am. I came from the cupboard as a lesbienne in 1994, and returned in 1998, because I the leugens of the ex-ex-lively movement praised that aforesaid, the "change!" Possible am not in 2003, realised I that whereas I had a lot of positive changes experience, my directive had changed. This way now what?"

Who knew I came from a cupboard? No wonder I was so damn uncomfortable. The rest of you at least had closets!

Also, I think since Alan doesn't like the term "ex-gay" anymore, he should just be called an "ex-lively."
12:55 AM
Anonymous said…
FreeTranslation.com (I've never been happy with Babelfish) does a bit better job of it:

I regret one however especially: that my Coming-out three years to late dam. At that time I was at the Collge and missed a quantity of wonderful types, with which I would have been able to lead crazy relations.
1:50 AM
Willie Hewes said…
Schwul! What a wonderful word. I can't place it etymologically. Dutch is similar German when it comes to vocab, but the Dutch say 'homo'.

You're like, world famous, P! Good going!
3:49 AM
Anonymous said…
Schwul! What a wonderful word. I can't place it etymologically.

I can't place it etymologically, either, but I suspect that it is related to the German word "schwuel" (ue=u with Umlaut--the two little dots over the "u"). "Schwuel" means warm and humid, and gay people in German were often referred to as "heisse Bruder" (hot brother). Drop the Umlaut, and you have "Schwul".

What is interesting is that Schwul was historically a derogatory term, but gays in Germany have rescued it, and it is no longer derogatory. The gay rights organization in Germany is named the LSVB--the Lesben und Schwul VerBand.

--raj
6:57 AM
Alex Resare said…
Schwul is a word taken from rotwelsch and was a very disparaging term before the 70's but now is the most common term for homosexual in Germany. When the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit came out he said "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so." (I am gay, and that's quite ok.)

I don't know German but I did a paper on gays in Germany last year and that stuck in my memory.
10:04 AM
Anonymous said…
Want a translation? I do not buy "Maxi", you announced your appearance in that issue, but I guess I am too butch for that kind of magazine. :-) hehehe
I you want to have the complete text, just send me the whole article via mail. I have a fast internet connection, shouldn´t be a problem.
2:02 PM
Anonymous said…
ehh, loveeloheem(at)yahoo.com
2:03 PM
Anonymous said…
"heisse Bruder" (hot brother)

*lol*
The right word in German is only "warmer Bruder" (warm brother)
9:49 PM
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