Ex-Homosexual Film Shows Change Can Happen
by Jim Brown
October 11, 2004
(AgapePress) - A documentary that contends homosexual orientation is changeable is being used to counter a national homosexual pride celebration this week.
Over the past weekend, the video I Do Exist was viewed in public and private venues across the U.S. in response to the annual "National Coming Out Day." That event, sponsored by the pro-homosexual Human Rights Campaign, is held each year on October 11 to commemorate the first march on Washington by homosexuals.
I Do Exist attempts to describe the process of how people identify themselves as homosexual, and then details how a transition to a new heterosexual life is possible. The former homosexuals who tell their stories in the documentary describe profound reorientation of their personal and sexual feelings, which has led to a greater sense of self-awareness and satisfaction in their lives.
Supplementing the film's inspiring personal stories of change are thought-provoking perspectives on the controversial issues surrounding sexual transition from a number of experts. These include psychiatrist Dr. Robert Spitzer, ex-homosexual advocate Arthur Goldberg, and psychology professors Dr. Mark Yarhouse and Dr. Warren Throckmorton, producer of I Do Exist.
Although the film has its critics, Dr. Throckmorton says even many homosexuals who have attended screenings believe the documentary offers a fair and balanced presentation of the lives of five people who left the homosexual lifestyle. "What we're really making is a positive statement," he says, "that change occurs, that people can live in consistency with their religious and moral beliefs about sexuality, and that it's not harmful to do so."
Rather than an attempt to mock National Coming Out Day or to denigrate homosexuals, Throckmorton insists the video is an effort to educate and to show homosexuals that they have options. "We want to offer to people who have traditional beliefs and traditional values about sexuality an alternative," he says, "so that they can feel comfortable identifying with their beliefs in contrast to those who suggest that you must identify with your sexual feelings."
Schools, colleges, and churches across the U.S. are hosting showings of the film throughout the month of October. Christian movie critic Ted Baehr calls I Do Exist a "wonderful and necessary video to dispel some of the confusions of our age."
