Conversion Therapy

Cheat!

Sony Music

True Crime, Tv & Film, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the US, around 700,000 gay, lesbian or bisexual people have received some form of conversion therapy. In the UK, thousands of LGBTQIA+ people have been offered or are undergoing it. But why and how do so many people end up going through this experience? And paying for it. Chaim Levin was a 13 year old Jewish boy from an orthodox background the moment he realised he was gay. He was stood in a synagogue at his own bar mitzvah reading a passage from the Torah, that stated homosexuality was an abomination. That was the beginning of years of conversion therapy. McRae Game spent 28 years of his life trying to convince other gay Christian folks to lead heterosexual lives. His organisation, one of the largest conversion therapy ministries in America, taught celibacy, then advised people to get married and start families with a member of the opposite sex. It wasn’t until 2019 however that McRae denounced the practice he had spent over two decades promoting and came to terms with who he was. A Somethin’ Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Cheat contains some descriptions of sexual misconduct that some listeners may find triggering.
0:06.0	So just a heads up, you guys might want to choose where and how you listen to today's episode.
0:21.0	Imagine, you're a young kid from an orthodox Jewish background.
0:26.0	Your understanding of the world around you is viewed through the prism of an ultra-strict understanding of the Torah.
0:32.0	The Jewish holy book, that's thousands of years old.
0:36.0	You're not even supposed to watch TV.
0:39.0	You don't know anyone outside your tiny community.
0:42.0	You grow up in Crown Heights, New York, sure, but you're totally cut off from the culture of the city.
0:49.0	Sex is never ever discussed, but you know that you're sexually different to all your brothers and sisters.
0:55.0	I would definitely say that during my teenage years, especially around the ages of 12 to 13, it became very, very clear that I was gay.
1:05.0	That's Heim Levin.
1:08.0	And at the same time, 13-year-old Heim started to realize he's gay, he was also preparing for his bar mitzvah.
1:15.0	The Jewish right of passage, which marks a child's transition into adulthood.
1:20.0	One of the customs is to read from the Torah, which is the Old Testament.
1:24.0	It's an incredibly important ceremony. The whole community comes together.
1:29.0	And on the day, center stage in the synagogue was teenage Heim. All eyes were on him.
1:36.0	The Torah portion that was assigned to me was the Torah portion that condemned homosexual behavior.
1:43.0	And so, at the age of 13, on my bar mitzvah, on the day that, you know, I'm supposedly becoming a man,
1:49.0	I was reading in the synagogue this Torah portion about the prohibition against homosexuality.
1:57.0	So just picture, I'm standing there. A 13-year-old kid, nervous as hell, knowing that he's gay.
2:05.0	He cleared his throat to begin reading the following words.
2:11.0	A man shall not lie with another man as one lies with a woman, as an abomination.
	...

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