Saving Alex: When I was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I was Gay, andThat's When My Nightmare Began

FIXING ALEX tells the story of Alex Cooper, a Mormon, lesbian teenager whose harrowing captivity at an unlicensed 'residential treatment program' inspired a battle for LGBTQ rights that challenged both religious traditions and legal institutions alike. When she was fifteen years old, Alex Cooper, part of a devout Mormon family, told her parents she was gay. Two days later, her parents drove Alex from their home in Southern California to Utah, and signed over custody to complete strangers. These strangers, fellow Mormons, promised to save Alex from her homosexuality in an unlicensed 'treatment' program at their home. So began her eight-month captivity. Alex's captors plied punishing techniques they learned on-the-job in the 'residential treatment programs' of southern Utah: a virtual gulag where thousands of American teenagers have been sent by desperate parents. Alex was not allowed to attend school. She was verbally abused. She was beaten. And day after day for months, she was forced to stand facing a wall for up to eighteen hours at a time wearing a backpack full of rocks so heavy that it literally broke her back. 'God's plan does not apply to gay people,' her captors told her, twisting their shared Mormon faith into an instrument of torture. She escaped and with the help of a dedicated legal team in Salt Lake City, Alex would make legal history in Utah by winning the right to live under the law's protection as an openly gay teenager. Here, for the first time, Alex tells her horrifying story, written along with Joanna Brooks, a recognized author and expert. It's a gripping capitivity narrative, but Alex's story is ultimately about so much more. It's about coming to terms with your identity, even and especially when it clashes with the religious values you've been raised with. It's about the strength to overcome adversity, to escape captivity both literally and figuratively. It's about when religious beliefs go too far, and when religion becomes dangerous. Ultimately, it's about the hope that brought Alex through this ordeal.