A Tennessee teen is claiming in a blog that he was forcibly admitted into an “ex-gay” camp by his parents after coming out as gay, gaining attention from media outlets and gay activists.

Zach, a 16-year-old from Bartlett, Tenn., was sent to the camp Refuge, associated with Love In Action near Memphis June 6 and is to remain there at least until June 20, according to his June 3 blog entry.

Love In Action, an ex-gay ministry, is accredited by the ex-gay group Exodus International and supported by numerous area churches in Memphis. Officials with the ministry on Wednesday would not confirm whether the teen was enrolled. A friend contacted by this newspaper would not confirm Zach’s full name. His parents could also not be identified.

Gay activists tracking the teen’s plight have organized daily protests since June 6 outside Love In Action’s facility in Memphis. The organization scheduled a press conference for June 16, after this publication’s press deadline, to address the growing controversy.

“LIA is calling upon the community to extend open-minded consideration and tolerance towards young people with same-sex attraction who are currently undergoing the organization’s youth program called Refuge,” according to a press statement from the organization.

Wayne Besen, a gay author who tracks the “ex-gay” movement, said the teen is likely to experience psychological damage.

“This is significant child abuse,” said Besen, author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals & Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.”

‘Raised me wrong’
On May 29, the teen blogged that his parents sat him down and told him he was going to a “fundamentalist Christian program for gays.”

“They tell me that there is something psychologically wrong with me, and they ‘raised me wrong.’ I’m a big screw up to them, who isn’t on the path God wants me to be on. So I’m sitting here in tears, [joining] the rest of those kids who complain about their parents on blogs — and I can’t help it,” Zach wrote.

“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,” the teen wrote in his last blog entry, posted June 3.

The teen also posted what he said were an exhaustive set of rules for Refuge that were e-mailed to his parents: “No hugging or physical touch between clients. Brief handshakes or a brief affirmative hand on a shoulder is allowed …

“[Love In Action] wants to encourage each client, male and female, by affirming his/her gender identity,” the rules continued. “LIA also wants each client to pursue integrity in all of his/her actions and appearances. Therefore, any belongings, appearances, clothing, actions, or humor that might connect a client to an inappropriate past are excluded from the program.

“These hindrances are called False Images,” according to the rules. “F.I. behavior may include hyper-masculinity, seductive clothing, mannish/boyish attire (on women), excessive jewelry (on men), mascoting, and ‘campy’ or gay/lesbian behavior and talk.”

Camp participants are also forbidden specifically from wearing any clothing by Calvin Klein or Abercrombie & Fitch.

Refuge offers a two-week program for $1,500 and a six-week program for $4,000, according to its Web site. Since its inception three years ago, the program has hosted more than 20 participants, according to Rev. John Smid, Love In Action’s executive director, who is married to a woman and claims to have left behind “the homosexual lifestyle,” if not same-sex attractions.

‘Founded upon deception’?
Gay bloggers and allies who track the teen’s thoughts about being sent to the program created additional blogs to support the teen and refute the reparative therapy practiced by Love In Action.

Blogger ‘Zach,’ 16, of Bartlett, Tenn.

Supporters also took part in daily demonstrations that started June 6, Zach’s apparent first day in the program, at Love In Action’s Memphis headquarters.

“The history of organizations like Love In Action are founded upon deception and have been proven ineffective and damaging to people,” said Morgan Fox, an organizer of Queer Action Coalition who said she is a friend of Zach’s.

The coalition formed in direct response to the teen’s blogs, Fox said.

“He’s probably been there about two weeks. But they shut you off from the world when you’re in,” Fox said.

Zach’s blog indicates that his cell phone had been taken from him and he only accessed his computer to post a blog entry by waiting until his parents were asleep.

About 30 people take part in the daily protests, said Kevin Gilliland, a member of the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.

“We’re in the buckle of the Bible Belt, and [the teen] has brought a lot of attention to [the ex-gay movement]. A lot of the people protesting are teens. This is an issue of psychological abuse,” Gilliland said.

‘Obligation’ of parents
Supporters of the teen are e-mailing Love In Action to express their opposition to the program, said Smid, who underwent the program in 1987 and is now the center’s executive director.

“It appears to me, from what I am hearing, they feel a sense of bond with other young people and they desire to rescue them,” Smid said in an interview Wednesday.

Smid declined to comment specifically about Zach. But he said parents of gay teens have an obligation to teach their children to live “healthy lifestyles.”

“There has to be a safeguard … other than a condom. We need to work with the mind and intellect [of gay teens],” he said.

Smid acknowledged the teen blogger’s posts highlighted a breakdown in communication among the family members and that Refuge works as a “bridge” to facilitate a better relationship between teens

and their parents.

Smid said Refuge’s rules, including a ban on secular music, specifically including non-Christian classical music by Bach or Beethoven, are critical to the success of the program.

“While here, they only listen to Christ-centered music to help ponder their lives,” Smid said. “We try to minimize external resources and make sure they’re not bombarded.”

‘Message in a bottle’
Love In Action International, founded 32 years ago, is the oldest known “ex-gay” organization, said Besen, author of “Anything But Straight.”

“These organizations hold them captive, basically as prisoners. They are boot camps,” he said.

Besen commended Zach’s courage in taking his story to the Web.

“It’s the modern-age message in a bottle,” he said. “Here he is on this hideous island of ignorance, and he’s sent his message out and now people are trying to rescue him.”

“This is a new spin on a terrible old story. He’s very innovative — it shows the power of the Internet for our community,” Besen added.

The author said “ex-gay” organizations that focus on adolescents are more difficult to track than programs for adults because they often market their programs as church camps.

“These groups inflict significant child abuse. They destroy and demolish the self-worth of young men and women,” he said.

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