Gay College Student Made to Drink Holy Water to Be Cured of Homosexuality

Wayne Besen March 12, 2013

Patrick Malkoun, an International Development Studies student at UCLA, shared his story of coming out to his Lebanese Maronite Catholic family. After dealing with depression from being closeted, he came out to his parents, who did not react well. “I was taken to ex-gay therapy via religious means,” Malkoun told host Tiffany Williams in a segment on HuffPost Live. “It was like basically an exorcism.”

Malkoun used the religious ceremony to help him through a different struggle: “I drank holy water but I viewed religion in my benefit, so when I was drinking that holy water, I was thinking like ‘ooh I have this big exam coming up, I could use holy water to help.’”

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About the Author

Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

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6 Comments

Robert Alvarez March 12, 2013 at 10:18 am - Reply

Are you kidding me? I AM a Happily-Recovered-Catholic and a Witch, and I use Holy Water to Bless and to cleanse, and I have no issue doing so.

I AM also a Gay Man, and to think that there are people–so-called religious authorities–corrupting Holy Water like that, clearly the ones that forced Mr. Malkoun to drink Holy Water need to be doused with it, both internally and externally.

Goddess, save me (and others) from these well-meaning people, regardless of their religion! So mote it be!
John Patrick March 12, 2013 at 10:57 am - Reply

I wouldn’t drink holy water. You never know how clean it is. Bacteria and stuff in the containers where it is held.
Jerry March 12, 2013 at 11:48 am - Reply

Keep it simple, folks. Get rid of Christianity once and for all. It’s a big campaign of lies, hypocrisy, money and control. Study the history of it.

I felt an enormous sense of relief the day I kicked it out of my life.
- Jim March 12, 2013 at 5:36 pm - Reply
  
  Keep it simple. Get rid of all religions. I know plenty of happy heathens that behave better than most “religious” people.
Ken March 12, 2013 at 1:03 pm - Reply

Well, at least he was hydrated.
Lincoln March 13, 2013 at 2:01 pm - Reply

I left the church 35 years ago. I studied several religions and found the one that fits me.
I have been a solitary practitioner of Wicca for about 33 years and could not be happier. I was attending a UU church for their CUPPS group for a while and learned a few good things.
Christianity never made sense to me. Too many rules that make no sense and the whole body and blood thing….creepy . When I realized I was lesbian, I had to get out of there.
Happy Ostara!
Blessed Be