UNITED STATES
Huffington Post
[with video]
James Nichols
james.nichols@huffingtonpost.com
“Kidnapped for Christ” is a compelling new documentary that follows the experiences of several American teenagers after they were kidnapped from their homes and shipped to Evangelical Reform schools located in the Dominican Republic. Many of these teenagers’ parents discover their children are either gay or experience same-sex attraction, and are sent to “therapeutic Christian boarding school[s]” in order to “transform into healthy Christian adults” in an environment outside of U.S. law.
Directed Kate S. Logan with Lance Bass cited as an executive producer, the film is currently engaged in a Kickstarter campaign in order to be fully funded. The Huffington Post sat down with Logan this week in order to better understand the function of these reform camps, the experiences of kidnapped youth go through while there, and why this film is important.
The Huffington Post: Why did you feel this documentary was necessary?
Actually, when I originally got the idea to make the film, I had no idea that there was anything controversial about this school. I was under the impression that it was just an alternative therapy program with a cultural exchange element. It wasn’t until I got permission to film and started investigating that I realized what I had gotten myself into. Once I saw what was really going on at Escuela Caribe, I felt I needed to help expose the truth of what this school was doing in the name of “therapy.”
Why do you think the majority of the public knows so little about these reform institutions?
I think it’s because the victims of these programs are teens and children and they are often so traumatized by their experiences that they don’t speak about it for years — if at all. Also, a lot of times former students of reform schools get labeled “bad” simply because they were sent to a place for “bad” kids, so no one believes their stories. Some of the things that go on in these places are, quite frankly, so bizarre and horrible that it’s hard to believe if you aren’t there to see it yourself. With the Internet it’s easier for teens who have been sent to these places to speak out and connect with others who’ve gone through the same thing, but it’s still a relatively small group who are talking about it.
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