Diversity Rules Magazine

3 Diversity Rules Magazine December 2016 David-Elijah Nahmod is a film critic and re- porter in San Francis- co. His articles appear regularly in The Bay Area Reporter and SF Weekly. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter. David developed Post Traumatic Syndrome Disor- der (PTSD) after surviving gay conversion therapy as a child and has found that many in the LGBT community suffer from severe, often untreated emotional disorders due to the extreme anti-gay traumas they endured. This column chronicles his journey. I know what its like to have my condition laughed at. Everywhere I go there's always one or two assholes who will make snarky comments about how "sick" I am or lecture me--using the cruelest language imag- inable--regarding all the "help" I need. All of these "concerned" souls usually do these things as publicly as possible in order to fully maximize the degradation they wish to subject me to. I am well aware of what my PTSD-- caused by being sub- jected to childhood gay conversion thera- py and other abuses--can do to me. e last thing I need is for some idiot to use my condition as a weapon against me--or as a "teaching tool" to "educate" me. With that in mind, I join millions of people who have expressed their disgust at talk show host Dr. Phil's re- cent interview with the former movie star Shelley Du- vall. Duvall was riding high during the 1970s and 80s. She played major roles in numerous films by the late direc- tor Robert Altman, most notably in the Oscar winner Nashville (1975) and opposite the late icon Robin Wil- liams in Popeye. She had a small but memorable role in Woody Allen's Oscar winning Annie Hall (1977), and is most likely best remembered for co-starring role opposite Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick's classic chiller e Shining (1980). Duvall had a glorious second act as a producer. Her 1980s TV series, Faerie Tale eater, which she cre- ated, produced and occasionally acted in was a huge hit for Showtime, helping to put the then second tier network on the map. A little over a dozen years ago, Shelley Duvall dropped out of sight. Rumor has it that she had moved back to her native Texas and was living a life of quiet retire- ment, comfortable with the money she had earned during her twenty-plus years in show business. In late 2016 Duvall resurfaced on the Dr. Phil Show. e TV psychologist inter- viewed Duvall about her current state of health. Many view- ers were shocked by the once rail-thin Duvall's overweight appearance--another example of how the public rushes to judgement. Duvall is now 67 years old--45 years have passed since she made her film debut. It's absurd for people to expect Duvall to look in 2016 as she did in 1971. PTSD - Con't on page 10 If You Could Read My Mind Mental Illnes Is Not Entertainment By David-Elijah Nahmod

• Cover