The offer they made was for Tonga to attend some form of “conversion therapy”, and when he returned to announce he isn’t gay, cut off contact with his fiance, scrub his social media of any support for the LGBTQ community, and denounce his support for them before the school. “They said I should take my time to decide if I will accept their help, and they’ll tell everyone I’m on a spiritual journey.” “They offered to help me stop being gay, with my ‘struggle’,” Tonga says. Tonga had been out for years – and knew his contract never stated he couldn’t be gay and teach at Valor – but shame-filled memories of his closeted years as a young man rose up in that moment, as his job slipped away.
