One of Australia's most popular podcasts, ABC's Conversations, interviews Anthony Venn-Brown OAM about his Life of Unlearning. Discovering he was gay in the 1960s was frightening. Homosexuality was a criminal offence and mental health professionals were attempting to cure gay men and lesbians. In 1969 Anthony turned to God for help, became a born-again Christian, [...]
A Life of Unlearning - a preacher's struggle with his homosexuality, church and faith. “Human stories, like the one in these pages, play a part in advancing understanding and acceptance. It is the story of a quest to find not only self-acceptance but one of the most powerful forces in nature—human love…” – The Hon. [...]
The Ideas Digest podcast is about understanding the people we disagree with & humanising our enemy. It humanises controversial ideas by learning about where we found them and how they change us. Whether they be religious, political, taboo or politically incorrect. On 21st March I did two things I've never done before. Firstly, I did an [...]
In the 1980s and 90s, B and T, hosts of the "I was a Teenage Fundamentalist" podcast, were members of large Pentecostal churches in Australia. In these podcasts, these two GenXers, look back on these years to contextualise, deconstruct and ask, “WTF were we thinking and how does this impact who we are now?” This [...]
I am gay in a straight marriage People find themselves in these situations because of a number of factors. These are, where a person lives geographically, family or society pressure, the culture you come from, the influence of religion or even the belief that getting married like "normal" people do will solve your "problem". It [...]
When I moved to the National Park, south of Sydney, in March last year, I hadn’t considered that the familiar surroundings would trigger memories of my gay conversion “therapy” experience nearly fifty years earlier. If it wasn’t for Covid, I wouldn’t be down here. I’m an inner city boy at heart. But when Sydney’s lock [...]
Anthony Venn-Brown talks with an Angel During the pandemic, Angel Huertas (originally from Puerto Rico, now living in Texas) has been doing many interviews. The series, is entitled Tertuliando en Cuarentena, which essentially means gathering during quarantine. Way back in 2005, Angel contacted me after serendipitously discovering my autobiography, A Life of Unlearning, while he [...]
“The Cure” is an independent documentary film on reparative programs and the mental health implications of trying to “change” sexuality. Told through the compelling narratives of people who have tried to transform their sexuality, the film lifts the veil on Australian ‘ex-gay’ programs and ultimately brings to light underlying themes of hope and freedom. Released [...]
"Why I chose gay conversion 'therapy'" was presented at the Homosexual Histories Conference at the Australian National University, Canberra, 15-16 November 2019 and is part of my research for The Quest to Cure Queers. On the 13th March 1951 there was a lot of gay talk in newspapers all over Australia. Thanks to Trove[1], I [...]