In 1967, street minister Kent Philpott began outreach to lesbian, gay, and bisexual hippies in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Over the next decade, he counseled those who purportedly wanted out of what he referred to as “the gay lifestyle,” combining charismatic religious beliefs in demons, divine healing, and glossolalia with psychological theories on gender and child development. This article examines Philpott’s efforts to provide the nascent “ex-gay movement” with cultural, social, and intellectual foundations. This article specifically documents how sexual liberation, hippie culture, and conservative religion converged in San Francisco and spawned the “ex-gay movement.” Philpott, swept up by the Jesus People Movement, incorporated religious and psychological beliefs prominent in the Bay Area and infused charismatic Christian influences and traditional understandings of masculinity and femininity into the “ex-gay movement.”
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Winter 2024
Research Article|
February 01 2024
Demons in San Francisco Bay: How a Street Preacher Launched Modern-Day “Conversion Therapy” Available to Purchase
Chris Babits
Chris Babits
Chris Babits is the director of education and professional learning for the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Utah State University. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Pacific Historical Review (2024) 93 (1): 63–96.
Citation
Chris Babits; Demons in San Francisco Bay: How a Street Preacher Launched Modern-Day “Conversion Therapy”. Pacific Historical Review 1 February 2024; 93 (1): 63–96. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2024.93.1.63
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