Meet Zach. While You're Enjoying Your Summer, He's Being Sent To A Camp Where They Make Gay Kids 'Normal' Again.

Zach is 16 years old. I've never met Zach, but it's pretty obvious he is in for a summer he never planned.

At first glance, he seems like a normal kid. He has lots of friends, he goes to school in Bartlett, he likes bands like The Killers, Josh Groban, Perfect Circle. This summer, he was probably looking forward to doing what kids do -- hanging out with his friends, maybe working, reading, video games...you know, regular kid-type stuff?

The only thing that makes him different is the fact that he's gay. Coming to this realization, he told his parents that he was gay. The news clearly rocked their Christian values and beliefs -- so much so that they made a plan. Zach went about his normal life for a while, never knowing that just around the corner was an intent -- that he would be sent to a camp where they try to use Christian beliefs to make gay kids "normal" again.

You should visit his MySpace page and add him as a friend if you're on MySpace. Make sure and read his blog -- read the laundry list of rules he is forced to endure in his visit to Refuge at the Kirby Woods Baptist Church on the corner of Poplar and Massey where they will try to make him normal again. Leave comments for him. Link this thread all over the blogosphere. Send a message that this type of psychological torture being inflicted on people in today's world is unforgiveable.

Christianity, if I understand it, is not about changing people. It's about accepting them for who and what they are even if you don't like it. To his parents, please remember that the only people who think of Zach as different are you. The only reason why he knows you think of him as different is simple: because now you're treating him that way. This type of thing should be considered child abuse.

Zach, for all the attention, seems to be M.I.A. right now. But he's checking in. Let him know you care.

UPDATE 6/7: Links removed. Thank you for your support.