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After DOMA Strikedown, Gay-Therapy Ministry Alum - And His Mom - Speak Out

StoryCorps

Five stories that have North Texas talking: One family's story of healing as Exodus International and its Texas affiliates close; possible changes experts are watching for in the electoral process besides Voter I.D., the unsung heroes behind David Bowie and Mick Jagger and more.  

San Francisco’s City Hall lit up its facade with a Technicolor rainbow on occasion of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Proposition 8 and part of the Defense of Marriage Act this week. For Samuel Taylor, 22, the sign of acceptance he sought came not on the face of a public building, but on the refrigerator. His mom, Connie Casey, had left a magnet with a rainbow heart that read “Love Is Spoken Here.”

She’d taken years to come to terms with Samuel’s homosexuality after he told her he was gay in high school. When he was 15, Connie sent her son to corrective therapy with an Exodus International affiliate. The head of that ministry apologized for hurting people in their mission to reorient those with same-sex attraction and announced last week he would close the program. Arlington, Midland, and the Austin area all had affiliate ministries.

The mom and son pair  shared their experience with StoryCorps.

  • The Voter-I.D. Law’s Quieter Cousins: Experts are counting the ways election officials could complicate voting processes after Section 5 was dismembered this week in the Supreme Court, leaving areas once considered vulnerable to changes made without federal approval open to, well, many things. The Voter-I.D. law enacted in Texas is broadly known and contested for its possible discouragement of minorities and the poor, but there’s a more measured rift in cities like Philadelphia, too, where many people simply don’t own cars and are less likely to be vigilant about photo I.D. The Atlantic Cities explains 12 tactics officials have used in the past: They can change polling locations just days before an election, for instance.

  • ‘Twenty Feet From Stardom,’ Now Close Enough To See: Angelikas in Dallas and Plano are now showing Morgan Neville’s documentary about the unsung heroes behind some of the most important songs in the history of pop and rock: backup singers. Twenty Feet From Stardom features singers like Merry Clayton, who dragged herself to the studio at 2 a.m. pregnant with curlers in her hair to sing on “Gimme Shelter.” (Just like most of hadn’t heard of Clayton, she says she hadn’t heard of “The Rolling Somebodys” when she got the call.) NPR’s Mandalit Del Barco has a preview piece upon the film’s initial opening; and our Art&Seek Big Screen podcast team has their take right here. (Oh, and Morning Edition host Sam Baker saw the film and implores you to do the same.)

  • “Drugs” Makes Dallas CVB Look Sharp: A recent promotional video released by the City of Dallas set out to show off the adventurous spirit and steely determination of the city’s people, who have created a place that defies expectation. “We say our name and everyone thinks they know us,” the narration begins. Enter the lilting-then-urgent scramble of “Drugs” by electronica outfit Ratatat, which scores the video. There are no lyrics; it’s perhaps an affirmation of the video’s message, though, that the vibrant and well-placed song wasn’t vetoed because of its title. The vid premiered at the Dallas City Council Inauguration this week and exists on the city’s Vimeo channel – watch it here on YouTube. [Dallas News]

http://youtu.be/ESk8t6Ind6w

Lyndsay Knecht is assistant producer for Think.