In Case You Haven't Heard…

Netflix's newest documentary Pray Away (now streaming) offers viewers a deep dive into the conversion therapy movement, featuring interviews from former leaders as well as a survivor — plus a peek at what it looks like today, USA Today reported Aug. 4. For the uninitiated: Conversion therapy, or reparative therapy, is when a religious leader, licensed counselor or peer support group tries to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity. All major medical and mental health organizations vilify the practice and consider it harmful. The documentary explores the popularization of conversion therapy, with a focus on Exodus International, a group begun by five men struggling with their sexuality in the 1970s. They started a Bible study to try to become straight, and ultimately formed what became the biggest conversion therapy organization worldwide and spawned the movement; it only was disbanded in 2013 after a group of survivors spoke out and shook the conscience of Exodus leadership. The film shows a symbiotic financial relationship formed between select psychologists and the conversion therapy movement behind the scenes: Exodus required credibility, and psychologists required patients.