Brian Dumont grew up in southern Maine. He always knew he was gay. Like many young people, he tried to deny his sexual orientation to fit in and be loved and accepted. He attended St. Anselm, a Catholic college in New Hampshire, where he befriended a monk who he eventually confided in about his sexual orientation. The monk was pleased with Brian’s honesty and said he could help Brian “fix it.”
Brian went through conversion therapy that involved a lot of prayer. For a time, he also joined the Jesuits. Like all conversion therapy, it was destructive on many levels and didn’t work. Brian didn’t fully comprehend the full extent of the harm caused by his abusive “therapy” until years later. He was a successful, out gay man in a relationship, yet he turned to drugs to help numb underlying pain.
Through legitimate therapy, Brian uncovered that the stigma and shame he endured from trying to “pray away the gay” was still haunting him. Having come to terms with who he is and working through the pain endured in conversion therapy, Brian is today much happier and at peace with himself.
He is now warning against the dangers of conversion therapy and telling those thinking of following in his footsteps to find genuine love and acceptance instead.
