"You're not going to tell my parents?"

"I have spent weeks of therapeutic effort on getting you to value something other than your parents being happy and proud of you. Even if I were to use them as a threat to get you to participate in treatment, it would set back progress a good deal."

"Thank... you?"

"I imagine you're planning to join Asher on Ron's little underground homosexual railroad."

Again, the silence is a confession. 

"What do you know about what life is like for homosexuals?"

"Well, I hadn't really met anyone who was openly gay before camp. Uh. R-- Sasha makes a lot of art and he's kind of had sex with a lot of people? And he worships Bacchus?" And he dresses like a girl and wears makeup and I lost my virginity to him in an orgy and he likes to be tied up and hurt, Lev does not add. 

"Are you interested in learning more about what it's like?"

"Uh. Sure?"

"Mental health disorders are very common among homosexual men. They are twice as likely to experience depression, 1.5 times as likely to experience anxiety, 1.5 times as likely to abuse substances, and 2.5 times as likely to attempt suicide. As many as a third of people who attempt suicide may be homosexual men."

Lev, a depressed and anxious person who thinks a lot about suicide, nods.

"I believe that homosexuality is linked to mental disorders because it is caused by unmet attachment needs. Trying to get your emotional needs met through sex will result in depression."

"That... makes sense," Lev says cautiously.

"Gay relationships are also at higher risk of intimate partner violence. Forty percent of gay men have been abused by a romantic partner. Would you mind if we went through a list of red flags that a relationship may turn abusive? You don't have to tell me what the answers are for you and Marlo, I just want to give you a chance to think about them."

Marlo makes him feel safe, Marlo wouldn't--

"Sure."

She reads. 

"Wanting to move very quickly into a relationship. Flattering you constantly. Seeming too good to be true. Wanting you all to himself. Trying to get you to spend less time with your friends or family. Wants to know where you are all the time. Wants to spend as much time as possible with you. Tries to get you to stop participating in certain activities. Makes life plans with you after only knowing you for a short time."

Check, check, Marlo is far far too good to be true, check, Marlo definitely wants him to spend less time with his family, check, check, yes if ex-gay camp counts as an activity, check.

"Wouldn't an abuser be... mean to me?"

"That's a common misconception. In fact, abusive people are usually wonderful and romantic early on in the relationship. No one would stay in an abusive relationship if they hit you on the first date."

Lev kind of wants to die.

"Lev, can you guess what the average number of sexual partners a gay man has is?"

It's probably more than straight people, so...

"Ten?"

"The average homosexual man has had over a hundred sexual partners in his lifetime. It is difficult to provide precise estimates because, in general, they have lost count. Can you guess how long the average committed gay relationship lasts?"

"I don't know, twelve years?"

"Eighteen months. Can you guess what percentage of gay relationships are monogamous?"

"I don't know. Ninety percent?"