What’s up guys, it’s Emile Ennis Jr. with Clevver News, and Tyler Oakley has something
to say about people promoting conversion therapy.
Leave it to Tyler Oakley to drop some serious knowledge on his fans, especially when it
matters most.
In case you haven’t yet tuned in, Tyler’s most recent vlog was inspired by fellow YouTuber
Anthony Quintal AKA Lohanthony, and by “inspired,” we mean literally titled “Calling All the
Anti-Gay Bitches...
(Lohanthony Promoting Conversion Therapy)"
Yeahhhh, Tyler's tea has officially been SERVED.
But before we get into all the details, I just wanted to issue a trigger warning as
we will be talking about some very sensitive topics, including religion, conversion therapy
and sexual assault, so please only continue watching if you feel comfortable doing so.
Ok, so to give you a little background information, Lohanthony gained traction through the app
Vine, quickly becoming known for his wild personality, having gone viral with his “Calling
All The Basic Bitches” leg-twirling trend.
After taking a few years off, Lohanthony recently returned to the platform, but fans were quick
to notice that this wasn’t the same Lohanthony they used to know and love.
In his first video back, titled “Why Christ?
My Testimony To Jesus,” Anthony revealed he’s been “feeling a shift in his life
for a while” and that “Jesus found him.”
In his second video back, titled “Jesus Delivers: Surviving Sexuality,” Anthony
details his relationship with sexuality, saying QUOTE, “It’s no coincidence that through
pursuing my same-sex attraction, I was also addicted to alcohol, I was also addicted to
weed.”
Mind you, the video currently has more ‘dislikes’ than ‘likes’ and the comments have been
disabled following a slew of concern and backlash.
But things took a major turn for the worst in his third, and most recent video, when
Anthony appeared to promote the practice of conversion therapy, assumed by the title of
his video, “Conversion Therapy and God’s Truth.”
And for those of you who aren’t familiar with conversion therapy, the damaging practice
was created to try and change a LGBTQ person’s sexual orientation using psychological, spiritual
and even harmful physical interventions.
Although Anthony confirms that he never went to conversion camp and does not support conversion
therapy, many were displeased to hear that he was essentially trying to reject identifying
as gay.
He said QUOTE, “God showed me that my celibacy is the way.
God showed me that chastity is the way.
God showed me that abstinence is the way.
God showed me that I do not need to find His love in His creation, but rather I can find
His love in Him, the creator.”
This didn’t sit well with many, including Tyler Oakley, who took this opportunity to
share his own thoughts on the matter, especially after remembering Anthony as one of the first
openly gay influencers who was always “unapologetically himself,” as seen in past videos where he
went from this:
“It actually makes me laugh when people are like, ‘God hates gays!’
B***h you know him personally?
Exactly.
You’re excused.”
… to this…
“I support abandoning consuming lusts, both homosexual and heterosexual alike.
No person is safe from lusting over whoever we are attracted to.”
After dissecting Anthony’s videos further, Tyler came to the conclusion that he combined
his addictions & past struggles with being gay.
“But as I know it today, Lohanthony is equating all of his drug abuse or things that he considers
sinful, and he’s kind of putting them all in the same bucket as his same sex attraction.”
In turn, Anthony is now declaring his “Christian celibacy” as a solution for his past “sinful
desires.”
What is especially alarming to Tyler, is that he feels Anthony is QUOTE “playing into
the exact approach of anti-gay people” when comparing same-sex attraction to sin.
Tyler went on to say that normally, seeing something as outlandish as Anthony’s videos
wouldn’t phase him, as he would never want to “give it air to become a thing,” but
the fact that Anthony is using his platform to speak against something that is impacting
our society today, is alarming.
“There are still many states where conversion therapy is legal, and we have a vice president
right now in the White House who supports conversion therapy.”
Although Tyler expressed that Anthony is free to do what he needs to do to make himself
happy, he said QUOTE, “My biggest issue, is of course, the people that might watch
that, and think, ‘Okay, well here’s an example of somebody who has come out the other
side of conversion therapy,’ and thinks maybe that is something that they can then
do.”
Concerned fans are standing by Tyler, and even sharing some of their own experiences
as being gay Christians.
One user wrote, “This breaks my heart.
I’m a Christian and gay.
I promise you that being gay is NOT the same as drug addiction etc...
God loves you for you.
You do not need to “be straight” for God to love you.”
Another person, who is mainly concerned about Anthony said, “It seems like he traded one
addiction for another.
Hopefully he can get the help he actually needs and find true peace within and with
himself.”
Others are still shocked at the complete 180-change Anthony has made compared to the Anthony fans
knew and loved.
Although he has yet to comment on Tyler’s video, it’s imperative that we continue
to educate ourselves, especially in a matter of the equality of all human-kind.
For more YouTuber updates, you can click right over here to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on Tyler’s video toward Lohanthony down
here in the comments, and if you agree with his stance.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys!