Another One Bites the Dust

A Connecticut Gayboy in Queen Tyra's Court

The homophobes are at it again. Talk show host Tyra Banks is the latest among high-profile Americans to focus on a perceived link between homosexuality and evil. In other words, gayness is the work of the Devil, and a homosexual can be "cured" by means of an exorcism.

The "victim" in this instance is a 16-year-old Connecticut boy named Jeffrey. The lad is gay and began cross-dressing at the age of 14. He was dating other gay young men as well.

Jeffrey came to prominence in June when he was "exorcised" by a "prophetess" attached to the Manifested Glory Ministries of Bridgeport, CT. It lasted for twenty minutes and was captured on video. It became a YouTube hit but has since been taken down.

Asked to justify the deliverance, Ms McKinney spoke for her congregation when she said that "we believe a man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man.... We have nothing against homosexuals. I just don't agree with their lifestyle."

She went on to explain that Jeffrey approached her community, not vice versa. "This young man came to us. We didn't go to him.… He was dressing like a woman and everything, and he didn't want to be like that.

Now Jeffrey has achieved even more media coverage courtesy of Tyra Banks. For those among us who don't know the lady, Larry Dobrow, writing in Advertising Age, notes that she "used to model swimsuits and she utters the word 'empower' more than any being on this or any other planet." He describes the Tyra Banks phenomen as "an Oprah-lite media empire," that was built on the premise that she "truly, deeply cares about her empowerable fangirls but is in reality Jerry Springer-ish pulp submerged in a torrent of girl-power bluster and prettified by a killer weave."

Gosh! Not a Tyra fan then. Nevertheless the episode, broadcast on 22 September, was illuminating in many respects. Not least being the extraordinary number of people who commented on Tyra's website expressing solidarity with Ms McKinney and her wacky beliefs.

And Jeffrey? Speaking about his ordeal, he claimed to have been freed of his "homosexual demon" and heaven would now welcome him, rather than slamming the pearly gates in his face. "I'm no longer gay," he said, "but it's still a process that I have to go through to be fully delivered."

Tyra wondered if that meant he was still attracted to other men. "I still have temptation," he told her.

Finally she asked if he was attracted to women now. He hesitated before answering without too much conviction: "Women? Umm, yes."