John J. Smid
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEx-Minister
Known forLove In Action
SpouseLarry McQueen

John J. Smid is the former director of the Memphis, Tennessee ex-gay ministry Love in Action, a group that claims to convert lesbians and gay men to heterosexuality.[1]

Career

During his time directing Love in Action, Smid faced controversy over the organization's treatment of gay teens in their youth program "Refuge".[2] Smid subsequently resigned his position in 2008,[3] and in 2010 apologized for any harm he had caused, noting that his teen program "further wounded teens that were already in a very delicate place in life".[4]

In 2011, three years after leaving Love In Action and stepping down from its leadership, Smid announced he was still homosexual and stated he had "never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual."[5]

In 2012, Smid wrote and self-published the memoir Ex'd Out: How I Fired the Shame Committee.[6]

In the 2018 film Boy Erased, based on the book of the same name, the character Victor Sykes, portrayed by Joel Edgerton, is based on Smid.

A November 2018 Radiolab podcast titled "UnErased: Smid"[7] features Smid's life story.

Personal life

Before claiming he had changed from homosexuality to heterosexuality, Smid lived for years married to a woman and fathering children. It was during this marriage that he said he was gay, divorcing his first wife in 1980. Four years following his divorce, Smid became a Christian and sought conversion from homosexuality to heterosexuality.[2] He married a second time, but by 2011 said, “I would consider myself homosexual and yet in a marriage with a woman.”[8] By November 2014, Smid had divorced his second wife and married Larry McQueen. The couple live in Texas.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Ministry seeks to lead away from gay life". Arizona Daily Star. November 8, 1997. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  2. 1 2 Borger, Julian (August 26, 2005). "Straight and narrow: church's 'gay cure'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ Herrington, Chris (April 10, 2008). "Fly on the Wall". Memphis Flyer. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Ex-gay leader apologises". Star Observer. March 30, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  5. ↑ Besen, Wayne (October 12, 2011). "Former 'Ex-Gay' Activist Admits Gay People Don't Change". Falls Church News-Press. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Ex'd Out". Grace Rivers. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013.
  7. ↑ "UnErased: Smid". WNYC Studios. November 28, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  8. ↑ Goldberg, Michelle (October 14, 2011). "Ex-Gay Leader John Smid's About-Face". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  9. ↑ Duffy, Nick (November 19, 2014). "US: Former 'ex-gay' leader gets married... to a man". PinkNews.
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