pray the gay away

present singular third person prays the gay away · participle present praying the gay away · participle past prayed the gay away · past prayed the gay away · alternative pray away the gay

1. USinformalTo attempt to alter one's homosexuality through prayer.

   This was my secret problem, my sin, and I earnestly hoped and prayed nearly every day of my life that it would be taken away from me. But of course, because it was an intrinsic part of me (albeit a part that I hadn't yet come to embrace), I was never able to pray the gay away.

   2014, Chris Dicken, Donny Wong, The Bumpy Road to Married Bliss, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN

   1 more example

   Another part of me thought that after I was married—and living with, sleeping with, and spending time with a "real" girl—maybe all my feelings would magically go away. I hoped for that outcome with a renewed intensity. I guess it was my own version of "praying the gay away," although it was more like "praying the girl away."

   2019, Abby Chava Stein, Becoming Eve, Seal Press, page 194