‘My great aunt and her wife were pressed to the ground for 30-minutes and cured of being lesbian,’ lady claims

My partner Kevin, me, and his parents were headed to a mall here in sunny Los Angeles on a Sunday afternoon. While we were leaving the parking garage a 60-year-old woman (she told us her age) approached Kevin and I and asked, “Can I ask you guys a question?”

This isn’t the first time someone has stopped Kevin and I to preach the Bible.

“You guys are clearly… together,” she said with a brief pause. I’m almost positive Kevin and I holding hands gave it away. “When did you guys know you were gay?” she asked. “When did you know you were straight?” I rebutted. “I just knew,” she said. My thoughts exactly. You just know!

She started to tell us a story about her mother’s aunt who was gay. “Is that okay?” she asked. “Is that offensive these days? I’m not sure what to say anymore because everyone is so easily offended. Anyways, she was as lesbian as they come.” She proceeded to tell us that her great aunt ended up falling in love with another woman, got married, and that was that.

Then it got weird.

Her great aunt’s homosexuality was a demonic spirit that was removed through a church ceremony.

Her great aunt and wife went to a church service and were “flooded with the Holy Spirit.” “They were physically pushed down by the Holy Spirit for 30-minutes and weren’t able to get up,” she said. “Once they got up they were ‘cured’,” and she snapped her fingers. Like it was that simple. Boom. Who would’ve thought?! The demonic spirit had been removed from their bodies.

Being gay isn’t a disease, so there’s nothing to cure.

I got a bit defensive after she said that they were “cured.”

You can’t cure something that’s not an illness or a disease. I have always been this way, and so has Kevin. Even when I was younger I found girls pretty, but boys were more attractive. I didn’t just wake up one day and convert myself to being gay. I always have been. I always will be.

“What are you guys’ thoughts on this?” she asked. “Do you believe these types of things happen? Would you be willing to give it a try?”

Her great aunt is now allegedly married to a man and tours the country telling her story of being “cured” of being a lesbian and becoming straight and curing others. “She’s a completely different person now,” stated the lady. “Her physical appearance, hair, the way she acts, everything.”

I can’t speak to who this lady is and her experiences for being “cured” and becoming straight. I don’t know her, but I am curious to learn more about her experiences. I have a lot of questions.

Here’s the thing: Someone being LGBTQ+ is one thing. Not wanting to accept it is an entirely different thing. When you’re going out of your way to suppress your feelings, it can get very emotionally and physically taxing on your well-being. Some people turn to religion or a higher power, and some turn to drugs and alcohol. Others turn to their friends and family. Some go to counseling or resort to the dangerous conversion therapy if they aren’t accepted by the ones they love or accept themselves. You can’t change someone’s sexual orientation.

But we live in a world where you can be whomever you want to be. You want to date men but marry a woman? Fine. Are you straight but have gay sexual fantasies? Give ’em a whirl (they’re pretty fun). ;) Are you physically and sexually attracted to the same sex but emotionally attracted to the opposite? Amazing. These are the things that make you unique and also make the world so beautiful to live in. Your story is different than mine, and mine is different from my neighbor’s brother’s girlfriend’s sister’s.

You are free to do whatever you want, whomever you please, whenever you desire.

I’m not a religious person by any means. I have many religious friends and family members. I support them 100%. I have found peace elsewhere. When I hear stories like this of people being “cured” and physically pressed to the ground by the Holy Spirit, question marks fly above my head and I get confused. Everyone has unique experiences in church and with the higher power they believe in, but I get very skeptical of stories like this.