Stephen Fry debates ex-gay therapist in new documentary, Out There

In Stephen Fry’s Out There, a two-part documentary on BBC Two, the English entertainer and out comedian decided to travel around the world to look at how different cultures view homosexuality. Invariably, this meant having to humour a lot of people who could look him in the face and rave on about how gays are sinful. Awkward to say the least.

In the above clip, you can see just how deftly Fry was able to debate Dr Joseph Nicolosi, an ex-gay therapist and founder of NARTH (The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. Anyone else feel like the title is just slightly misleading?).

For his part, Fry is nothing short of congenial during the whole thing, while still pointing out some of the more glaring holes in Nicolosi’s argument. He even interviews a man who was reportedly a former client of Nicolosi’s who — SURPRISE! — is still very much gay.

The entire thing is worth a watch, especially for Nicolosi’s explanation of his method, which seems to involve profiting off a person’s shame, insecurity and fear, which is a remarkably terrible thing to do. I’m just saying, if your job involves taking advantage of a kid’s perceived lack of self-worth, maybe you entered the wrong field.

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