Gay Gaslighting — Johnny Townsend

Family members and religious leaders often invoke love as their justification for making the lives of LGBTQ folks difficult. But we've learned how to nurture one another. In these tales from the author of Mormon Underwear and Gayrabian Nights, a gay man invites two young Mormon missionaries to watch movies on their day off, offering R-rated and eventually X-rated films for their edification. A man receives a substantial inheritance...on the condition he leave his husband. A customer service rep at a Suicide Center established under a new theocracy assists those condemned of homosexuality kill themselves. A bishop is murdered by one of his congregants for being too liberal. A lonely wife discovers that her husband of twenty-six years is gay. Two missionaries try to interest men at an adult video store in the LDS Church. Parents tell their son he's ugly from the time they first suspect he's gay, hoping he'll be afraid to date once he becomes an adult.As the fight to remain free of theocracy intensifies, it's important to understand what we're up against and prepare for the political-and emotional-battles ahead. One way is by telling stories oppressors don't want us to hear.