Harry shrugged. Then he took from his pocket a folded pamphlet, cheaply printed on pink A4 paper. “Go on, take a look,” he said, and handed me the pamphlet. The title read: HOMOSEXUAL, HELLBOUND.

I still remember it, twenty-four years on; that nasty little pamphlet. Most of its kind are ridiculous: badly written, badly spelled; filled with inappropriate capitalizations. This one was not: the style was good; the grammar flawless; the argument clear and almost reasonable.

Homosexuality is an addiction, it said, born of doubt and a lack of faith. Into that emotional void, demons sink their ethereal claws, drawing the victim into a descending spiral of abhorrent behavior, including rape, bestiality, incest—all abominations listed in the Bible. The only way to avoid damnation is to face up to these demons, to ask for forgiveness and cast them out. Otherwise, there can be no hope. The Bible is very clear on this. To refuse God’s help is to repudiate God: damnation will surely follow.

“It was in Charlie’s pocket,” he said. “The latest of a series of charming little booklets, warning against the dangers of masturbation, sodomy, and any number of other things, from Dungeons & Dragons to rock music.” His tone was light, but I could see that underneath, he was angry. “Charlie had told me a few things,” he said, “but I didn’t know the half of it. They’d been trying to cure him, as if there were a cure for being gay. And by the time he came to me, he was already half convinced that he was possessed.”

“Possessed? As in by demons?” I said. “People really believe in that stuff? I mean, people other than Mr. Speight—”

“Oh yes, Roy. They believe in them. Speight is far from being alone. And when the minister in charge is none other than Dr. Harrington, then they see demons everywhere, including in a troubled teenager trying to come to terms with being gay.”

So this was what young Harrington had been trying to tell me, I thought. It all made perfect sense now. The boy’s divided loyalties; his natural concern for his friend; his fear of speaking out in Church; and Charlie Nutter’s impulse to reach out to the one adult he could really trust.