How Ex-Gay Therapy Made Garrard Conley a 'Boy Erased'

Garrard Conley grew up in rural Arkansas as a Mission Baptist. His mother and father were devout to say the least. An only child who worked at his dad’s car lot, Conley was encouraged to minister to the customers. Every soul counted, especially the lost ones. But Conley, himself, was feeling increasingly lost. Because there in the capital of Evangelical America, he knew that he was gay. What happened next is the subject of Garrard Conley’s new memoir titled, “Boy Erased.” The book chronicles Conley’s time in so-called ex-gay therapy, an intensive program called Love in Action, which used the Bible and a 12-step-like structure to convince vulnerable, often young, people to renounce their homosexuality.