Save Me

First Run Pictures

R1 DVD

Save Me is an independent film that stars Chad Allen as a troubled, drug-addicted gay man named Mark who is sent to a Christian ex-gay ministry called Genesis House, where a married couple attempts to change the sexual orientation of those who attend, or at least convince them to embrace celibacy.

The film opens with a series of scenes which juxtapositions the opposing worldviews. Mark is shown indulging in drugs, sex and partying, while on the other side we see a Church service. While this is a film made by gay people attempting to create a dialogue with the Christian church on the issue of homosexuality I have some problems with the film from the outset. The Church presented is clearly an evangelical Church and the Church ministry is an ex-gay ministry, this is how the Christian debate is framed, progressive pro gay Churches are ignored. At the same time the gay men shown have problems with drugs and sex addiction, hardly representative of the gay community at large.

If we move past the first scenes, we then get a more interesting presentation of an ex-gay ministry with its various participants. These range from party boy Mark to various others. The married couple running the ministry is shown as very human with Ted being a former alcoholic and his wife being haunted by the death of her gay son. The methods used at Genesis range from group therapy to prayer and an emphasis on regaining training sex role i.e. men becoming more masculine.

I must admit I have problems with this film. It has been made by gay men trying to offer an understanding of the ex-gay movement and create more tolerance between evangelical Christians and the gay movement and this, I believe, is totally misguided. The reality is that the ex-gay movement has caused a vast number of suicides and untold emotional damage. It has been repudiated by the professional bodies representing both psychiatry and psychology in the USA, UK and Australia. There is no evidence that sexual orientation can be changed anymore than prayer can heal a broken leg – the ex-gay movement is not only stupid but dangerous. To try and create a dialogue is like trying to create a dialogue with witchdoctors about medicine.

As an atheist I have little time for religion, but I am more than willing to accept that some gay and lesbian people wish to hold onto their faith – for these people there are a wide range of accepting gay and lesbian Churches and movements. In addition, for those who have problems with drug use and sex addiction, there are various highly successful psychological programs - sexual orientation has nothing to do with such problems, they can happen to anyone.

I have felt for some time that the gay community at large is becoming a little too accommodating to those who place us at risk. While Save Me does make it clear that homophobic prejudices reinforced by Church teaching are the heart of the ex-gay movement and there is a discovery of the bonds of male love outside the restrictive worldview of Genesis House at the end of the film, it still gives the ex-gay movement far more sympathy that it deserves. In my mind it deserves ridicule and contempt and little else...

This review will appear in Volume 2:1 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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