The Documentary, One Nation Under God

With the reemergence of popular anti-gay sentiment linked with political platforms centered on the issue of same sex marriage, it might just be time for the documentary One Nation under God to reemerge as well. [1] This film comprehensively and chronologically presents the history of homosexuality in the United States since the 1950s. It describes the attitude taken toward homosexuality prior to the American Psychiatric Associations 1974 decision to remove it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Moreover, it effectively displays how homophobia was present in mental health treatments during that time, and how present day reparative therapies emerged in the wake of the APA decision. The strength of this documentary is its organization. It juxtaposes interviews and testimonies from those who work for the ex-gay movement and those whose lives have been affected by it. Though the presentation of the film is somewhat dated, the material it presents is disturbingly timeless. It will be particularly interesting to those knowledgeable about gay culture and the ex-gay movement; however it is possible that anyone, regardless of prior knowledge, will relate to the sentiments it expresses.

[1] Teodoro Maniaci and Francine Rzeznik, a First Run Features film, 1993.

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As a side note, upon looking at the website for the film, we find the following quotes:

"Very funny! An excursion into a strange world. Truly bizarre!" - LA Reader

"Funny and fascinating! Right out of A Clockwork Orange!" - Variety

"Hilarious, surreal! A whirlwind history of the gay movement in America." - San Francisco Bay Guardian

The fact is, one watching the film might have said reactions, however, the sad truth is that the rhetoric and philosophies portrayed in this film are laughable, "bizarre", and "hilarious" only because you want to assume they're so outdated and embarrassing that they could never still exist. Here's the problem...They do. Elizabeth Moberly's seemingly pre-scientific assessments of how people "become gay" are identical to John Smid's in his 1993 paper "The Root Causes: The Child Development Process", where he states that: "homosexuality develops out of a series of decisions in response to our life development process." Outlining healthy ways for parents to avoid making their children gay:

"Healthy activities might include wrestling, sitting on dad's lap, and bathing or swimming together...An example of healthy interaction might be the mother and daughter sitting in front of a mirror while the mother is putting on make-up. "Jennie," the mother says playfully, "let's put a little lipstick on you, too. Then you can be just like Mommy!"

The point here is that today, 2005, organizations like Love In Action are still able to present such "truly bizarre", "funny", "fascinating", and "surreal" idea's about gay people, and yet there are actually people who take their messages seriously enough to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to send their children into their care. In that regards, there's nothing funny about it, because these people obviously love their children, and truly believe they're making the right choices....Watch One Nation Under God, and show it to anyone you know who might support Love In Action.