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Sad to Be Gay Remix

zoëstrachan.com posted a thoughtful analysis of the BBC documentary, Sad to Be Gay. This piece was filmed in early 2005 and shows a BBC correspondant, David Akinsanya, seeking change for his unwanted same-sex attractions. His quest brings him to Love in Action in Memphis, TN. David interviewed Wade Richards and me in Huntsville, AL as part of his research.

Strachan goes on to juxtapose same-sex attraction with the gay lifestyle (aka the bar scene for many) along with David's difficult childhood and reveals why someone like David would be dissatisfied with himself. What emerges sounds very much like the profile of a "successful" ex-gay leader who testifies how he has fled the evils of homosexuality and an empty lonely life and not simply the story of someone experiencing an inward battle over sexual desires.

David is quick to deny he’s ashamed of his sexuality. It’s just that he’s been there, done that. “I’ve been out on the scene for twenty years,” he says, “And it’s not really done anything to enhance my life.”I’m not surprised. If I’d spent twenty years on the gay scene I’d be more than depressed, I’d be suicidal.

Gay may be good, but the gay scene isn’t, or not for me. More of my straight friends go to gay clubs these days, and if anyone has actually found the love of their life amid that heaving morass of sweaty male torsos bopping away to incessantly hideous euro-pop remixes, well good on them. The term “gay village” isn’t a misnomer. It’s invariably claustrophobic, incestuous and bitchy. Little wonder that David’s gay relationships haven’t made him feel good about himself. Even those who like that kind of thing tire of it, and twenty years sounds like a life sentence.


You can read the whole of Sad to Be Gay here.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
What my wife and I found terribly amusing about the film was the way that the LIA internees would raise their hands in the therapy sessions when they empathised with something someone was saying, and then in private social times they did they same thing. "Mmmmmm..... this bacon sandwich is good", says someone - 5 hands instantly raise up. Hilarious...
10:35 AM
Elliot Coale said…
I haven't seen the documentary... but I must...
2:04 PM
Nonsequitur said…
"Gay may be good, but the gay scene isn’t, or not for me."

I can't even begin to describe how much I totally identify with that statement!
12:37 AM
Unknown said…
It’s hard to make the distinction between be gay and the gay scene. In my confrontation with some heterosexual Christians friends, is this aspect with make us crash. But I was there too, I mean it’s like came out of the closet when you realized that there is a gap, a difference what I Am and what society (gay mainstream culture) want me to be or became.
11:41 AM
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