Who is Garrard Conley, what’s his book Boy Erased about and when was he sent to a conversion camp?
Garrard Conley's memoir is being turned into a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman
GARRARD Conley is an author, activist and speaker whose debut memoir is being turned into a film.
Boy Erased was published in 2016, and tells Garrard’s story of being sent to conversion therapy as a teenager when he was outed as gay.
Who is Garrard Conley?
Garrard grew up in the south, Arkansas, the son of a Baptist minister and deeply embedded in church life in his small town.
His memoir tells the story of how he was "terrified and conflicted" about his sexuality growing up, and faced losing his family, friends and whole life when his parents found out he was gay.
In a bid not to lose everything he had, he agreed to attend conversion therapy.
He shares his moving story in debut memoir, Boy Erased, which is being turned into a film, and he has a novel due to be published in 2020.
Lucas Hedges will play Garrard in the film adaption, directed by Joel Edgerton, who is also writing the screenplay.
Due for release September 2018, Joel Edgerton will also star as the head therapist, and Nicole Kidman and Russel Crowe play Garrard’s parents.
Despite his experiences at the conversion camp, Garrard says he loves his parents, and they have tried to heal their relationship over the years.
In an interview with , he says: “It was extremely important to demonstrate the love I share with my family.
“I believe this is a key ingredient in why I was able to successfully recover from my therapy sessions.”
He says his father is still a Baptist minister, and has finally acknowledged the book, while his mum is supportive of him.
Currently, he is the memoir instructor for GrubStreet’s Memoir Incubator program.
As well as being an author, the bio on his describes him as an activist and speaker for Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau.
He travels across the country giving lectures on “radical compassion, writing through trauma, and growing up gay in the complicated South.”
In addition, he has also received scholarships from the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation Writers’ Conferences.
Garrard now lives in New York with his husband.
What's his book Boy Erased about?
The book, released in 2016, is a memoir by Garrard.
It tells his own personal story of his childhood growing up in Arkansas, and his teen years were later spent in Cherokee village.
His father was a southern Baptist pastor, formerly a car salesman, and his mum a homemaker.
The book is described by as: "When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to “cure” him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life.
"Through an institutionalized Twelve-Step Program heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin.
"Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Garrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness.
"By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community.
"At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds."
When was he sent to a conversion camp?
Garrard was sent to a camp called Love in Action when he was 19-years-old.
He was outed as gay to his parents when he was in freshman year of college, in 2004.
Faced with the choice of being disowned by his family or attending a conversion camp, he chose the latter.
In an interview with , he says they came “highly recommended”.
Love in Action was an ‘ex-gay’ facility, which promised to cure people of their homosexuality.
He said: “The truth is, almost everyone in the church thought sending me to ‘ex-gay’ therapy was the right thing to do.
“My Missionary Baptist church was very plugged into the ‘ex-gay’ movement at the time.
“Church leaders considered it the best option if your kid turned out to be gay.”
He later ran away from the facility.
Speaking to , he reflected on the culture he grew up in, and why he volunteered to go attend the camp.
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He said: “For about eight years I didn't even want to speak about my experience of growing up in Arkansas.
“I felt deeply ashamed of how ignorant I had been as a teen.
“What kind of 19-year-old agrees to attend "ex-gay" therapy?”