They want to change you.
We’re here to help you become who God created you to be.
It’s time to
PRAY THE GAY
TO STAY.
A 31-day journey to stop praying yourself away and start living as who God created you to be.
PRAY THE GAY TO STAY is a 31-day, trauma-informed guided experience for LGBTQ+ people who have spent years trying to change, hide, or pray away who they are. Today we’ll begin healing the wounds those efforts left behind and discover a way to hold faith and sexuality together.
Through a daily rhythm of trauma-informed insights, storytelling, videos, journal prompts, and practical application exercises, you will learn to stop fighting yourself and begin reclaiming your body as a safe place to live.
It’s not about fixing who you are; it’s about honoring the intelligent way you’ve survived, finding a community of fellow travelers, and building a life where you no longer have to choose between your spirituality and your truth.
You do not need to become someone else to be loved.
We’ll show you how.
The course registration fee is $99, which includes access to 31 days of lessons, a downloadable companion journal, a 15-minute therapy consultation, and access to our private community. 100% of the proceeds will go to a scholarship fund that provides mental health services to LGBTQ+ people in crisis through Affirming Therapy. Know that by investing in your own healing, you’re also helping someone else with theirs.
You cannot change what God has Divinely Created
For years, the message came through sermons, Bible studies, accountability groups, whispered prayers, or polished video series.
You may know the coded language all too well:
“Pursuing sexual wholeness.”
“Compassion without compromise.”
“We don’t believe in forcing or shaming anyone.”
“Individuals who once identified as LGBTQ+ and chose to follow Jesus.”
“Everyone deserves compassion, dignity, and the agency to follow their conscience.”
It sounds gentle on the surface. Sometimes the Bible is even quoted to back up these statements. But underneath, the message is always the same: The only way you can have a relationship with God is if you’re straight or celibate.
Maybe you survived formal conversion therapy or pastoral counseling to try and change your sexual orientation. Or maybe you sought to try and change on your own by praying, policing your gestures, hiding your relationships, and bracing your nervous system every time you entered a church.
Eventually, though, the cost of survival catches up with your body:
A chronic fight-or-flight nervous system: Always scanning rooms, editing your words before you speak, and wondering who is safe.
A fractured spiritual life: Missing the music, the ritual, and the sacred, but refusing to stomach theology that requires self-hatred and shame.
The persistent, quiet dread: A lingering childhood voice whispering, What if they were right about me?
Complicated family tables: Enduring conditional acceptance from parents or churches who claim to “love you” while voting, praying, or speaking against your reality.
Freedom is not leaving yourself behind. Freedom is finally embracing who God created you to be.
Featuring insights from licensed therapists, faith leaders, theologians, and survivors who have walked this road.
Over 31 days, you will hear exclusive video reflections and personal stories from licensed therapists, prominent queer authors, pastors, and advocates who have navigated high-control religion and conversion practices and integrated their faith and sexuality.
You’ve spent long enough trying to pray yourself away.
Come home to the life, the body, and the faith that were always yours.
For years, you were handed a script that required you to disappear in order to earn belonging. You learned to hold your breath, second-guess your intuition, and survive inside spiritual systems that were never built to hold your wholeness.
Healing doesn’t ask you to work harder, perform better, or figure out this terrain alone. Over the next 31 days, we will walk beside you, bridging clinical trauma recovery with deep spiritual liberation, so you can finally exhale, trust your own knowing, and live in the fullness of who God created you to be.
Even better? 100% of the proceeds from course registrations help to fund therapy scholarships through Affirming Therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals in crisis. By registering, your healing becomes part of someone else’s lifeline.
You belong here. Exactly as you are.
Your Healing Begins Here:
Every daily lesson will take about twenty to thirty minutes to complete and includes:
A Grounding Quote
We begin each day with words from iconic LGBTQ+ authors, poets, theologians, and activists (like James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Mary Oliver, and Henri Nouwen) to remind you that you are part of a rich, resilient lineage of queer wisdom.The Daily Lesson
Drawing on more than twenty years of experience as a licensed therapist, Candice Czubernat offers honest, compassionate teaching on each day’s theme, from untangling internalized shame and navigating family boundaries to reimagining faith and regulating the nervous system.Curated Video Stories
Short, personal videos feature reflections from Candice and Tim, guest perspectives from affirming leaders and authors, and powerful music videos that invite your body to feel, move, and exhale.Somatic and Creative Exercises
Embodied practices take healing out of your head and into your physical space, engaging your senses, body, and creativity.Journal Prompts
Questions are specifically designed to help you name your truth, process lingering grief, and discover the wisdom already living within you.A Daily Breath Prayer
A simple, rhythmic two-line prayer (Inhale/Exhale) you can carry with you all day to reset your nervous system whenever fear or former conditioning flares up.
In addition to the 31 daily lessons, you will receive a downloadable companion journal, a complimentary 15-minute therapeutic consultation call, and access to a private Facebook group where you can interact with your fellow travelers.
What You’ll Experience
Clarity In Confusion
Cut through spiritual gaslighting and religious shame with trauma-informed clinical insight and honest, embodied self-discovery.
Reclaim Confidence
Rebuild trust in your own voice, body, and intuition rather than looking outside yourself for spiritual permission.
Love Well Without Compromise
Set healthy, life-giving boundaries that help you stay connected to loved ones without abandoning who you are.
Deepen Your Faith
Discover how God honors your identity, body, and wholeness without requiring you to disappear.
Be Equipped for Real Life
Learn about daily breath prayers, somatic check-ins, and practical tools you can use immediately in many situations, including at work, with family members, and in your community"?
Join a Resilient Community
Connect with fellow travelers who are choosing honesty, integration, and healing together in a safe, judgment-free space.e
Frequently Asked Questions
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We believe that all LGBTQ+ people are made in the image of God and loved and accepted just as they are.
We believe you can heal from spiritual trauma and reclaim your relationship with God.
We believe you can find belonging and acceptance as a queer person of faith.
We believe you can build healthy, loving relationships that reflect God’s love and your intrinsic value.
We believe you can reflect the image of God exactly as you are, no fixing or hiding.
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You are completely welcome here.
While Pray the Gay to Stay directly deconstructs Christian theology, biblical clobber passages, and church-based conversion practices, this course is not an attempt to evangelize you, convert you back, or make you fit into an orthodox faith mold.
Leaving high-control religion or stepping away from Christianity entirely is often an essential act of self-preservation and healing. Our focus is on somatic trauma recovery, nervous system regulation, unlearning toxic shame, and helping you reclaim self-trust. Whether you identify as agnostic, atheist, spiritual, post-Christian, or are simply resting in not knowing, you are invited to take whatever psychological and nervous system tools serve you and leave the rest.
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Each daily module is intentionally designed to take 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
Trauma recovery and deconstruction can be exhausting, so the daily reflections are tight, grounded, and immediately applicable, especially when paired with a simple breath prayer, journal reflection, or somatic exercise. You can move through the modules with your morning coffee, on your commute, or before bed.
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Not at all!
While the course spans 31 daily modules, your nervous system sets the pace. Remember, you have lifetime access to this material. If a lesson brings up deep grief or tender memories, you have full permission to pause for three days, take a breath, and resume whenever you feel grounded enough to continue.
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Once you enroll, you will receive a private scheduling link to book a virtual, 15-minute, one-on-one consultation with an LGBTQ+-affirming licensed clinician from The Christian Closet.
This touchpoint is designed to help you ground your experience, answer clinical questions about your deconstruction process, and connect you with personalized mental health resources.
(Note: This consult is psychoeducational and consultative; it does not establish a formal client–therapist relationship or replace ongoing, long-term psychotherapy.)
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Yes, absolutely. Your safety and privacy are paramount.
Your billing statement will reflect a discreet merchant descriptor (“Affirming Therapy”) with no reference to conversion therapy or sexual orientation.
We never make your email address or account details public or share them.
Joining the private Facebook community group is entirely optional; you can complete the entire 31-day journey independently and anonymously through our secure course portal.
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100% of percent of net proceeds directly fund mental health therapy scholarships through Affirming Therapy.
These grants provide free and subsidized individual psychotherapy for LGBTQ+ youth and adults who have experienced conversion therapy, high-control religious abuse, homelessness, or financial crisis. Your enrollment directly helps to fund care for someone who cannot afford it.
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No.
All core curriculum—including daily video reflections, audio guides, contributor interviews, transcripts, and downloadable somatic exercise templates—is hosted on an independent, mobile-friendly course platform you can access in any web browser.
The Facebook group is simply an optional community space for those who want to connect with other people who are taking the course.
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Yes. Both co-authors bring intimate knowledge of this terrain: Timothy as an author and conversion therapy survivor, and Candice as a licensed trauma therapist who has specialized in religious trauma recovery for over fifteen years.
The curriculum explicitly deconstructs coercive change efforts and focuses on nervous system regulation, restoring self-trust, and ending internalized self-betrayal. However, because grief and trauma can surface, we provide clear boundaries, grounding protocols, and access to crisis support throughout the platform.
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Every enrollment is an investment that pays it forward: Net proceeds directly fund critical therapy grants for LGBTQ+ individuals who are escaping high-control religious environments and crisis.
Because we commit these funds immediately to scholarship recipients, course registrations are nonrefundable.
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Financial barriers should never stand between you and your healing. Thanks to our community’s generosity, we have a limited number of scholarship registrations available for those experiencing acute financial hardship, homelessness, or recovery from coercive religious environments.
If you need a scholarship seat, please email our team with a brief note, and we will gladly share the details and options with you.
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We are here to make sure your access is smooth and stress-free. If you are having trouble logging in, accessing video modules, finding your downloads, or booking your one-on-one consultation session, email our team directly. We will respond within twenty-four to forty-eight business hours to get you back on track.
We will respond within 24–48 business hours to get you back on track.