Rick Sincere blogs about the case of "Zach," a 16-year-old from Bartlett, Tenn., who was sent to an "ex-gay camp" where young homosexuals are subjected to a rigorous discipline in an attempt to turn them straight.
If this is all on the level and not an elaborate hoax (note: Zach's last name isn't known), then it is indeed pretty gruesome. On his own blog, Zach writes that "I've been through hell. I've been emotionally torn apart for three days... I can't remember which days they were...time's not what it used to be," and he describes the camp's exhaustive set of rules, which include "No hugging or physical touch between clients. Brief handshakes or a brief affirmative hand on a shoulder is allowed."
No, it's not really equivalent to the death camps of the gulag, either, but since Zach is truly an innocent victim, the description is more appropriate than using the term to refer to a military prison for captured combatants in an ongoing war.
Update 1: via The Washington Blade. Tennessee to investigate the ex-gay camp, but "emotional abuse is difficult to prove in the state."
Update 2: Tennessee has "investigated" and
finds "no
evidence of child abuse at the camp," predictably.
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