A few weeks back, we were reminded of a true television abomination by the name of My Husband’s Not Gay.
The hour-long special that aired on TLC in early 2015, following the lives of four Mormon men living in Salt Lake City who all openly speak about their experiences with “same-sex attraction”—a.k.a. SSA—and, yet, would all tell you they were straight. In fact, they were all either married to, or actively pursuing relationships with women!
Even for the network that used to be known as The Learning Channel, this was a new low. The controversial special was met with pushback from the community; GLAAD released a statement calling it “dangerous” in its depiction of sexuality as a choice, while a Change.org petition suggesting TLC cancel the show received over 100,000 signatures.
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Related*
Remembering ‘My Husband’s Not Gay,’ the unbelievable reality show about married Mormons attracted to other men
The controversial TLC special featured men with “same-sex attraction” who maintain they’re not gay.
While My Husband’s Not Gay did still air its single episode, its format definitely seemed to suggest there were originally plans for more, so maybe the petition did it’s job in the end?
Anyway, it seems the world had largely forgotten about the one-off until Reality Rewatch podcaster Julian Hagins stumbled upon it and began posting his hilarious thoughts on TikTok.
“So everybody’s in denial on this show?” an aghast Hagins asked.
@julianhagins #tlc #myhusbandsnotgay #realitytv #utah #mormon #gay #marriage #family #denial #tv #whattowatch #realityrewatch ♬ original sound – Julian Hagins
Watching through with an appropriate amount of side-eye, his reactions highlight some of the special’s most absurd and unbelievable moments—like when one woman shows immediate concern after her husband announces plans for an overnight camping trip with some guys he barely knows. Girl…
Naturally, Hagins wraps up his coverage with the question on everybody’s mind: Where are they now? We even previously suggested TLC get the gang back together for a 10-years later reunion episode. But now that we have our answer… we take that back!
In a follow-up TikTok, Hagins—no doubt with the help of his internet sleuth fans—was able to track down most of the men and women featured on My Husband’s Not Gay and *spoiler alert* it’s pretty depressing.
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My Husband’s Not Gay: Where Are They Now?
Believe it or not, all three married couples originally featured on the special are still together (love is love, we guess?). According to a The Daily Mail, “mixed-orientation marriages” have a 70% divorce rate, and yet these couples have fought the odds, a fact the piece calls miraculous—funny choice of words considering The Church of Latter-Day Saints would probably label their love a miracle, too.
First, there’s Curtis and Tera Brown, who recently celebrated their 30th anniversary. “‘We are happier, more connected, more in love, and more aligned than ever before,” Tera writes on social media. “We also have four beautiful children who are fabulous humans.”
Per her Instagram bio, she is now a “pattern breaking” life coach, “providing tools for life after” betrayal trauma, infidelity, and depression. We imagine her practice is informed by personal experiences considering her SSA “afflicted” husband previously admitted to his attractions leading to marital problems.
@julianhagins Replying to @SI DA DOLL 🫦 #greenscreen #updates #myhusbandisnotgay #fyp #realitytv #tv #tlc #followup #mormon #gay #ssa ♬ original sound – Julian Hagins
Then there’s Preston (a.k.a. Pret) and Megan Dahlgren, who The Daily Mail refers to as a “Mormon power couple.” They seemed to have double the size of their family since the show. Megan is a kindergarten teacher, while Preston is a therapist who does couples counseling and specializes in same-sex attraction. We bet he does!
And last but not least is Jeff and Tanya Bennion, whose relationship was the central focus of My Husband’s Not Gay (they were the ones who had that awkward camping chat!), and who Hagins refers to as the show’s “ringleaders.”
Jeff is a—any guesses? Yup, he’s a therapist, too! But he’s also a co-founder of a Mormon church called North Star, which claims it is focused on empowering “individuals and families concerned with issues of sexual orientation or gender identity to more authentically, healthily and joyfully live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
In other words, as Hagins smartly points out, Jeff pretty much has made a living off of justifying SSA within the beliefs of the LDS church. It’s his hustle!
Now, we don’t necessarily have a problem with these couples still being together. Obviously, it’s very possible that a queer man might actually be in love with a woman—even if all of these guys are in denial about their queerness—sexuality is fluid!
What’s depressing is that none of them appear to have fully accepted their same-sex attractions, nor have they addressed their sexualities in an open and honest way in the decade since. Worse still is that basically the whole cast of My Husband’s Not Gay now does some form of (so-called) “therapy” work, no doubt trying to convince others to deny their authentic selves.
As The Daily Mail points out, much of the outcry around the show’s original air date was in response to the fact that its stars were “actively trying to advertise a discredited therapy program that claims to turn homosexual men straight”—in other words, conversion therapy. Ten years later, they’re still on their bullsh*t.
The only cast member Hagins wasn’t able to find updates on was Todd, the lone bachelor of the show. The special culminated in him bringing a new woman on a dinner date night with the other couples, revealing his SSA to her after she wondered where he met these friends.
She seemed to be understanding of Todd’s situation, and even suggested she was open to seeing him again, but whether or not that happened is a cliff-hanger at the end of My Husband’s Not Gay. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hold out hope that, in the ensuing years, Todd’s been able to accept his true self as a queer man and is living happily and healthily somewhere far, far from the North Star church.
Hagins promised to keep digging for more interviews and updates, so be sure to follow along and stay tuned for more!
And, if you’re curious, My Husband’s Not Gay is available for digital purchase via the TLC Presents series on Amazon Prime Video.
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BEPVA
I guess It’s not hard to be in denial with that middle-age paunch, knee-length shorts and ugly vinyl furniture…
linniewantstoknow
Although I have seen this show per se, I have seen this show. What I’m saying is, shows like this are all to common. Why? Because it’s real. In the real world there are a lot of men and even some women who loathe the fact that they are gay so much that they pursue relationships with the opposite sex. Not being gay is the choice they want to make, despite knowing there is no choice. I have dealt with people who have told me on more than one occasion that they wish they were not black. I had to remind them, that we are black and that can’t change. I can see why organizations like GLAD came out the way that they did, however as mad I as get when I see my black brothers and sisters portrayed on tv a certain way, I have to come to the realization that this is the way the world is. Do I like attention brought to it? No, but it happens. What this show is bringing us is reality. What this show is not giving us is that fact that men like this are the reason why STI’s such as HIV is so prevalent.
Ronbo
We must run out and buy the new flag to include Wishfully Straight Guys.
Ronbo
Sorry, I forgot Furrys, Chokers, and Gardeners. It’s the LGBTQIAFWSGCSG flag.
Ronbo
We might run out of colors; so we won’t include interstellar aliens in the new flags color scheme. Their color, Chartruse, is being reserved for the snot eaters uniting with us.
C Hess
I did not connect that Jeff is … that Jeff… founder-of-North-Star Jeff. Perhaps the group here would be interested to know about North Star’s many “scandals” such as having “cuddle parties” at hotels. Anywho, here’s a video from the Mormon Stories podcast all about North Star: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLEuAYnzd0M
In summary, anyone associated with North Star is absolutely being unfaithful to their mixed-orientation marriage. Which I say not to blame any of the spouses, but to put full blame on the LDS church’s rampant homophobia. Shame on the Mormon church!
mrbryguy
Not to be “that guy” but the North Star group Jeff helped establish isn’t a church.
It’s just a support group with meetings and stuff. So he’s not off starting his own religion or anything.
I was a part of it for a few years. Back when I was trying to be a good Mormon boy myself. Obviously that didn’t work out. Now I’m much happier outside the church.
yru2
Maybe the wives should try dating other women so they can experience what their husbands may be feeling, firsthand.
SethEd
Making fun of others always makes us feel better about ourselves, doesn’t it.
AndyManX85
I was going to comment about how sad this is that these people can’t accept themselves for who they are and about how they’re now seemingly “helping” other people be in denial and poisoning minds (I’m especially concerned about the kindergarten teacher teaching little kids because you know theyre going to push their religious bullshit, they just can’t help it.) But since you mentioned all of that in the article I’m just going to say that I think a gay man could be married to, and truly love, a straight woman
It’s just a different kind of love. But, they have to be honest about who they are to themselves and each other. So yea, be gay in a hetero-marriage, but figure out what that means for you (and your wife) while being true to yourself. Like, are you going to date men while married to the woman? Are you going to have a sexless marriage and have sex with men instead? Everyone is different and every couple is different. And like you mentioned, sexuality is fluid.
Brian
Aren’t these men simply bisexual? The show’s title is true — they’re not gay. And so it’s not a “miracle” that they’re married to women. People are so focused on the binary of gay/straight that they think there’s some shocking thing happening here.
Seth
I suppose being a walking, talking representation for pointing and laughing is “giving back.”
Baby Jebus, I’m sure, is ever so proud.