Boy Erased is about a Pastor’s son, Jared, who realizes that he is not attracted to the opposite sex. He then participates in a church-oriented program called the Refuge Program. The film goes back and forth from time of the program to when Jared has significant interactions with either men or women. We begin to see how he first realized he was gay. His first physical encounter with man was when he was raped by his college friend. He’s pressured to not say anything to anyone which would obviously change who he is as a person. That same person then tries to sabotage Jared's family by calling his parents and lying about what had happened. After his family realized that it was a lie, his dad tries to set up Jared again with his ex-girlfriend. Jared admits that he’s had thoughts about same-sex relationships and his parents call for help from a pastor and a church friend who’s, as the mom says, “dealt with this before”. His dad then asks Jared, “are you willing to change?”. When Jared says yes, everyone in the room, his parents, the pastor and the church friend, rejoices and prays.

Refuge Program (for LGBTQ) is led by a Mr. Sykes. He composes all these rules that the participants must follow, including no contact and not allowing any discussion of the program to their families. The program is a Christian program designed for the participants to see that LBTQ is a “sin”.

The people in the film are mostly middle class. The program consists of 90% men and 10% women. The men and women are hosted in the same class in the program. The scene of My. Sykes drawing on a white board is a major sin in regards to the topic of Gender, Sex and Class. Mr. Sykes, the Director of the program drew a Venn diagram on a white board and split up the categories and listed things to support that category in his own way. Sykes insisted both categories were choices and produce consequences. Sykes was intentional in making sure that those who were choosing to love or pick to be same sex or gender is acting in sin.

Rating: 6/10

I won't give away the ending but as I summarize the significant scenes above, we can see that gender was represented throughout the whole film. The concepts of gender and homosexuality were encountered as issues in the film and was addressed by claiming that "it was a sin" and that "God hates homosexuals." With most of the characters, the issues were never really resolved by the end of the film. Jared's mom's issue with Jared was resolved... and I would like to think that his dad's was resolved, but in a different way.

I admire how Jared's mom fought and loved Jared throughout the whole movie. My favorite part was towards the end, Jared's mom says "I love God, God loves me. It's that simple."

I recommend this movie because of its storytelling. Although, watching the movie made me quite sad. But I don't recommend this movie if you're wanting to validate your beliefs and perceptions of homosexuality. However, this movie does highlight the trauma and pain that a Christian LGBTQ goes through by his/her own family and church. 

Overall, if you're a Christian wanting to challenge yourself in your personal beliefs and perceptions of LGBTQ, this movie might be next on your watch list.