Real World is a long running series on MTV in which seven young adults who don’t know each other are placed together in a house and video-taped 24 hours per day. The more dramatic moments are edited into a one-hour broadcast. MTV tries to match people who have differing backgrounds to heighten the drama and have a formula that generally includes at least one gay person.
This season the gay guy is Davis, a Southern Baptist frat boy from Marietta, GA who brings a strong sense of faith with him to Denver to live with strangers. In fact, the first person he meets is Steven with whom he discusses their shared beliefs in their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Davis and Steven share a room and there is drama later in the episode when Davis comes out to the roommates and Steven isn’t happy about it. Incidentally, the other six all claim to be supportive; the southern belle of the group whines obsessively when she thinks there isn’t going to be a gay roommate. Previews suggest that Davis’ sexual orientation will continue to be significant in the interplay of the roommates.
The Advocate has an interview with Davis
I’m from a really strong Baptist family. My grandfather is a pastor. My dad and my mom met as youth group leaders. And my parents are both Sunday school teachers on the weekends. I used to work at a Christian bookstore in high school, as well as I went on choir tours and mission tours for spring break.
When he came out a year ago at his small Baptist college in Florida he was warmly accepted by his classmates, fraternity brothers, and friends back home.
And I got really great feedback from my Christian friends. The next thing you know, it was like, Wow, my Christian friends aren’t really responding the same way I thought they would. They were like, “I love you, Davis. This is an issue I’m starting to change my mind about, and maybe I don’t think that it’s a choice. Maybe I don’t think it’s condemnable to hell”.
But his mother has not been so accepting of Davis’s orientation.
In the first episode Davis tells us that when he first told his mother that he thought he was gay as an early teenager, her response was to send him to Christian counseling. After years of ex-gay therapy, Davis felt the need to become sexually involved with women in College. But he never found women to be attractive.
When he finally decided to come out, he became reacquainted with a boy he knew from high school and it is this first boyfriend that he dates during he season and (apparently) is still dating.
I will watch this season with interest to see if Davis further discusses his ex-gay counseling and to see if yet again the Real World’s token gay guy is far less promiscuous than his hyper-sexualized heterosexual roommates.
UPDATE
An interview with the student paper of Howard University suggests that Steven’s perspective grows and changes from his exposure to Davis.
Nichols is a conservative black male who was raised in a Baptist household, and the show previews portray a highly opinionated Nichols with specific views regarding homosexual Christians.
“A lot of my views have changed, and I think I’ve grown as a person. And if anything, I’m a little bit more accepting now. Actually, I’m a whole lot more accepting now of certain things that I wasn’t when I first got in there,” he said.
Davis Mallory will be in some explosive episodes coming up on the Real World Denver.
Davis is currently lecturing at college campus about being gay and Christian, to see more information on booking him please go to http://www.mm-agency.com or check out the agency’s blog for inside information on the season and the cast as some posts are actually done by the cast themselves at The Real World Blog.
,MM Agency
“…send him to Christian counseling. After years of ex-gay therapy, Davis felt the need to become sexually involved…”
Okay, now let me get this non-curved**: A Christian counseling group suggested Davis has sexual encounters?
Is the message: It is better to be fornicating than being gay? It’s a lesser sin than being gay?
**non-curved = straight
That was suggested to me also. In addition, I was told to pick up straight porn. I was told these are sinful, but that the goal was better than the means.
LOL – you can watch straight porn and only focus on the guys. Trust me, I’ve tried it, and it didn’t make me straight.
Not even a little.
cowboy,
I’m not trying to imply that the counselor told him to have sex with women. Perhaps I should have been more specific.
In the first episode he said he tried dating women to see if that would work, and it didn’t.
I am not saying that the ex-gay counseling (“christian counseling”) encouraged sex with women, but rather that it encouraged him to not be gay which resulted in his need to figure out his sexuality, i.e. through sexual activity with women. I get the impression that if his counselor had said, “OK, so you’re gay. Wait to have sex until you find the right man and get married, just like we tell the straight boys” it’s unlikely he would have had sex with the girls. And since he’s a very conservative and religious young man, he probably wouldn’t have been whoring it up with guys either.
In other words, in my best guess, the Christian counseling resulted in increased sexual behavior rather than less – which is ironic considering their goal.
Mr, Kincaid,
You (we) are speculating. So, let us consider the contributed comments from Aaron and Gordo: Davis’ counselor MIGHT have counseled him to have sex.
Davis might have been directly encouraged by the Christian counselor. The counselor might have inferred indirectly (wink wink nudge nudge) Davis to have sex with a woman. The counselor might have even suggested procuring a whore for him. Or, as you suggest, it might have resulted from Davis’ own experimentation/self-discovery.
We do not know unless Davis reveals it to us here on XGW. (Highly unlikely but we can speculate about that too?)
In the end, it IS ironic.
When I was going through exgay therapy, my counselor suggested that I ask Jesus to “come into my body and make love to my wife for me” since I had no sexual desire for her. I was supposed to “let Jesus have sex with her instead until I developed straight feelings”. Weird, huh?
Not just weird. That’s downright icky. I cringed when I read that.
That is just plain disgusting. How does anyone get through this “therapy” with any faith intact? How sad.
I think its hilarious. It highlights just how preposterous this “therapy” is.
“When I was going through exgay therapy, my counselor suggested that I ask Jesus to “come into my body and make love to my wife for me” since I had no sexual desire for her. I was supposed to “let Jesus have sex with her instead until I developed straight feelings”. Weird, huh?”
Well, since Jesus can and does observe your every sexual act anyway, why can’t he have some actual fun himself?
I thought Jesus was supposed to have been celibate.
When I was going through exgay therapy, my counselor suggested that I ask Jesus to “come into my body and make love to my wife for me” since I had no sexual desire for her. I was supposed to “let Jesus have sex with her instead until I developed straight feelings”. Weird, huh?
Yes. But I’d call that creepy.
It does reminded me of a time I met a guy that told me that he, his lover, and Christ had a three-way. :/ I walked away from that conversation feeling rather stunned and icky. To this very day it creeps me out. And that was 10 years ago!
I hope Davis discusses his time in ex-gay therapy on the show. It might help the younger audience to embrace themselves as they are.
“When I was going through exgay therapy, my counselor suggested that I ask Jesus to “come into my body and make love to my wife for me” since I had no sexual desire for her. I was supposed to “let Jesus have sex with her instead until I developed straight feelings”.
Please don’t take the above mentioned out of context. In my opinion. What is being implied here is to let Jesus govern your mind ; body and spirit. Ask him to control your urges and pray that true love and passion will ignite for your wife. Please don’t get sick ideas…You have to be committed to change and seek His ways. Seek him with all your heart for true deliverance .
You have to be committed to change and seek His ways. Seek him with all your heart for true deliverance.
I agree to a point. Jesus has delivered me from a great many things in my life. Even before I became a Christian at 18 he came to me through a dream one night (at 15 years old) that he would give me another chance and to change my ways. I was an emotional mess at the time and I was dabbling in black magic, seeking revenge on those that hurt me in and out of school. I was also fooling around with neighbor boys which I look back on now knowing that promiscuity was very wrong. But accepting Christ Jesus as Savior and with my baptisim washed all those sins away!
One night, at 15, I was before the Lord! Yes! Before him! I couldn’t see his glory since he would not allow me to look upon him. As I said this was before I became a Christian or knew his son, Christ Jesus. So I do believe in deliverance through Christ. However, my journey as a Christian over these past 20 years my sexuality remains fixed. I’m still gay. Recently, I have been struck by the Holy Spirit like a knife going through me on several occassions during prayer assuring me that he was still with me.
So I do not believe that deliverance you call Sohail is true change of one’s sexual orientation but rather suppression of same-sex attraction as some ex-gays have admitted.
Thanks Ken for sharing your testimony with me… Our Lord loves us regardless; but it grieves him when we give into temptation… Now temptation is not SIN; but yeilding to it is. You can’t stop a BIRD from flying over your head but you can certainly STOP that bird from building a nest. As we begin to seek his face; read his WORD as though it was a love letter from God and contemplate on it; seek godly council & accountability from some one you know who is authentic. The desires will gradually change. In the mean time we need to take a hard look at ourselves and ask us the question …do I believe or don’t ? Remember our Lord is a gentleman …he wont force you to make that choice ; .unfortunately ANIMALS don’t have that reasoning power they act on impulses and we cant choose not act out.
While I sincerely do understand that you mean well Sohail, you truely cannot know my heart or my personal relationship with Christ. No one can. Whether you believe it or not I have been redeemed. By the blood of Christ I have been made clean. My salvation has been assured through my faith in Jesus. (John 3:16)
I do understand the difference between orientation and the acting out of my orientation. However, after reading scripture and contemplating on it, I do not believe my sexuality is a sin. My acting out is an expression of “my nature” which is fixed. Whether its at birth, due to environment, or both, my sexuality is nevertheless fixed. I have never had a desire for a woman. Never. If I started to date women all the while suppressing my same-sex attractions not only would that be a horrible lie but it would also be hurting the woman I’m with that deserves so much more than what I could give her.
I do agree with you that desires do change. I no longer desire to be promiscuous as I was several years ago. Nor do I feel the need to look at adult materials. With Christ’s enduring strength I have been made free of these sins. And the temptations for engaging in these sins have been but a mere thought here and there.
My love for another man in a monogamous relationship is something I hope for but it does not drive me to the point where I have sleepless nights without someone next to me. When I meet people I do not look for potential relationships but friendships. But if a wonderful Christian man comes into my life and we both fall in love with each other and decided to commit to one another we will both love and glorify God together as a couple. We as a couple will bring the Good News to those that are in need of hearing the powerful Word Of God. And that, Sohail, is something that makes my very soul jump for joy!
You see Sohail, sex isn’t the most important thing in my relationships with other men. Its supporting that person in love and friendship. I want to be there in his joys and sorrows. I want to care for him when he’s ill, console him when he’s hurting, and hold him in my arms while whispering in his ear the words, “I Love You”.
I know we will never see eye to eye on this issue. That’s ok. I still respect you and would always treat you as a Brother/Sister in Christ.
With Christian Love,
Ken
You should stop reading the Bible selectively and hypocritically, or stop eating shellfish, pork, or shaving your beard.