When I was in high school (a while back…), I remember there being an enormous uproar about a children’s book called HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES – a sweet, brief book that discussed the beauty and uniqueness of every family – it was a little technical for the age it was written for, but it certainly was the only one of its kind at the time.
Needless to say, in 1990, people lost their minds. Then in 1991, another book called DADDY’S ROOMMATE was published, and make people lose their minds even more – including right-wing freakshow Sarah Palin, who objected to it being in the Wasilla Public Library.
Now, there is another book written for children that the conservative (and overwhelmingly Christian) communities will actually love. It’s called CHASED BY AN ELEPHANT: THE GOSPEL TRUTH ABOUT TODAY’S STAMPEDING SEXUALITY, and it “suggests that gay people can overcome ‘sin’ and convert to heterosexuality with the help of counseling.” The author Janice Barrett Graham writes in her intro that she wrote the book to “help shed the clear light of truth on today’s dark and tangled ideas about male and female, proper gender roles, the law of chastity, and the God-given sexual appetite.” There appears to be two versions of the book, CHASED BY AN ELEPHANT seems to be specifically written for Mormon families, and a version called WILD ELEPHANT, seems to be focused on Christian, but non-Mormon families – ’cause y’all know the Mormons need their own books for everything!
From The Advocate: “Graham’s son Andrew claims he successfully changed his sexual orientation and is now a happily married man. In his book Captain of My Soul, Andrew Graham writes that he was “lured into same gender internet pornography during his high school years, and recruited into cursory homosexual experimentation with older men while at Brigham Young University.”
I’ll give you a moment to ponder that concept.
I’m not alarmed that there is “cursory homosexual experimentation” at BYU, but to me that sounds more like the plot of a new porno movie. (Who wants to start writing THAT screenplay???)
Once again, we’re dealing with the whole notion that homosexuality is “curable,” or worse, “a choice.”
The book is being sold in more than 100 Walmart stores (natch.) and I’m sure will start appearing in libraries everywhere in conservative Christian schools, but I certainly hope that the liberals will have the cajones to stand up and make sure it doesn’t appear in public schools.
Les Sterling is an artist living in Seattle, and freelance contributor to Seattle Gay Scene.
