Former "Ex-Gay" Activist Yvette Schneider Recants "Conversion" Claims

Former "Ex-Gay"

With LGBT rights steadily advancing across the country - today's 4th Circuit ruling invalidated gay marriage bans even in far right South Carolina - another phenomenon that one can observe is more and more "ex-gay" activists admitting that their supposed "conversion" was a fraud.  The net result? A smaller and smaller group of "ex-gays for pay" who make their only financial livelihood by pretending that they are no longer gay.  As I have said before, tawdry whores have more integrity than these sad, sick individuals.  Today, Yvette Cantu Schneider joined the ranks of those "changing" to honesty.  GLAAD has details on Schneider's decision to disavow the lies she has supported in the past.  Here are highlights:

Yvette Cantu Schneider has one of the most robust pedigrees of anyone who has ever worked in the so-called "ex-gay" movement. From the late nineties right through to the second decade of the twenty-first century, Yvette managed to find herself laboring for and with just about every top anti-LGBT group and activist you've heard of. From her high-profile start at the Family Research Council to her work with California's Proposition 8 campaign—with many stops, at many different groups and campaigns along the way—Yvette became one of that movement's most visible faces and certainly one of the most known women in a line of "work" known mainly for its male spokespeople.

To this day, Yvette remains one of the key people who anti-gay voices like to cite in order to prove that "change" works.

That all changes today. Yvette has reached out to GLAAD, exclusively, to share her story—one that will come as a shock to her former colleagues and allies.

In a nutshell: Yvette no longer wishes to identify with the "ex-gay" or anti-LGBT movement; is sorry for the pain she caused as part of that world; is highly questioning of the idea of "ex-gay" itself; and is now fully supportive of LGBT people, our truths, and our families. Yvette has made her sincerity clear to me, saying "as opposed to when I was doing things for the Christian Right out of duty and obligation, I'm doing it because I want to and feel it's the right thing to do." She hopes that by speaking out, she can start to undo any damage she might've helped to impart.

Finding My True Self
by Yvette Cantu Schneider

If we as a society didn't condemn homosexuality, gay people wouldn't feel pressured into marrying heterosexually, against their true attractions, and families wouldn't be torn apart when the gay spouse could no longer continue the ruse. I had seen a number of gay Christians marry an opposite sex partner, only to leave when they couldn't pretend any longer. It wasn't fair to the spouse, the kids, or themselves. My doubts about the efficacy of change and the evangelical Christian stance against gay rights of any kind nagged at me. 

I spent the next few years digging deep within my soul to unearth my true self--the authentic me who celebrates the worthiness and equality of all people. The me who knows we all deserve to be who we are, not who others want and expect us to be. It was only when I embraced this true self that I regained my life. It meant shedding many of the beliefs I had espoused for decades—beliefs about what it means to be gay, and what it means to treat people with dignity and respect.

This change has cost me friendships and the respect of certain people. But that’s okay. I don’t expect everyone to understand my journey. One thing is for sure: Never again will I deny my authentic self in order to gain the approval and acceptance of others. It isn’t worth it.

Kudos to Schneider.  I expect the "godly Christian" crowd will seek to drag her through the mud - my former GOP colleagues did it to me - but I hope Schneider holds true to her new found truths.  Living honestly and authentically is so empowering and allows one to stop wasting energy trying to live a lie and be what others want them to be.