pray the gay away

Verb

pray the gay away (third-person singular simple present prays the gay away, present participle praying the gay away, simple past and past participle prayed the gay away)

1. (US, informal) To attempt to alter one's homosexuality through prayer.
   • This was my secret problem, my sin, and I earnestly hoped and prayed nearly every day of my life that it would be taken away from me. But of course, because it was an intrinsic part of me (albeit a part that I hadn't yet come to embrace), I was never able to pray the gay away.2014, Chris Dicken, Donny Wong, The Bumpy Road to Married Bliss, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN
   • Another part of me thought that after I was married—and living with, sleeping with, and spending time with a "real" girl—maybe all my feelings would magically go away. I hoped for that outcome with a renewed intensity. I guess it was my own version of "praying the gay away," although it was more...2019, Abby Chava Stein, Becoming Eve, Seal Press, page 194