The conversion camp is where Colton Davidson’s parents sent him after discovering that he was gay, placing him under the authority of the Catholic priest Father Benson. Its defining purpose in Colton’s account is an attempt to make him heterosexual through coercive treatment. He escaped at sixteen, but the camp’s effects remained in his physical condition, his memories, and the circumstances that shaped his life in foster care.

Identity and Background

The camp is identified through Colton’s account to Marcel: it was run by Father Benson, and Colton describes its aim as making him no longer gay. His parents did not send him into the state’s care by formally surrendering custody; they sent him to the camp after they realized he was gay. That distinction later became consequential when Colton’s application for financial aid was assessed, because his parents had never legally lost custody of him.

Colton’s earlier disclosure to therapist Amit gives the camp’s context in his own hesitant terms. He explains that he had tried to hide being different, that his family was Mormon, and that things became ugly after he was found out. He does not initially recount the camp in detail; instead, the scene establishes the difficulty of naming what happened and the importance of being offered room to speak without being pressed.

Coercion and Escape

Colton tells Marcel that the camp’s efforts to change his sexuality caused increasing pain and fear. He ran away because he believed Father Benson might kill him and did not want to die. The escape is therefore not presented as a casual departure but as an act of self-preservation after he concluded that staying put him in danger.

After fleeing, Colton spent time on the streets. Police eventually detained him for vagrancy and sent him to Ted House. He was sixteen when he ran, almost seventeen by the time he was settled there, and had to leave soon after graduating high school. His route from the camp to the streets and then to a group home ties the institution to the later insecurity of his housing and the limited time he had in foster care.

Lasting Effects and Disclosure

The camp’s effects persist after Colton has left it. He carries scars and nerve damage, with some areas of his body numb and others unusually sensitive. When Marcel touches a scarred area and Colton flinches, Marcel asks whether he has hurt him and draws back. Colton then takes Marcel’s hand and explains that the scars and altered sensation came from the camp’s use of electricity in an effort to cure his sexuality. The exchange makes disclosure a deliberate act on Colton’s part: he chooses to guide Marcel’s hand back rather than leave the physical traces unexplained.

The memory can also surface unexpectedly. While changing after work, Colton recalls that the camp used electrodes and punishment in response to his bodily reactions. He turns away from the mirror and covers himself, indicating how the experience remains bound up with the way he sees and manages his body. The evidence links the camp not only to past events but also to recurring memories and a complicated awareness of the injuries left behind.

Institutional Aftermath

Colton does not know what ultimately happened to Father Benson or the camp. He believes police may have tried to pursue child-abuse charges, but says the camps were legal in the state at the time; he is uncertain whether that remained true. His therapist and Sage did not want him involved in any proceedings, and Colton says he was grateful to be spared that involvement because he wanted to move on. The account therefore leaves the camp’s legal fate unresolved rather than presenting an investigation or punishment as established fact.

The history of the camp also intersects with Colton’s later education plans. When his university financial-aid application is denied, he is told that time in foster care does not qualify him as independent because his parents were never legally stripped of custody. Their income is consequently counted against him, despite his having spent the last year of his life in foster care and earning barely above minimum wage. The camp’s aftermath thus reaches beyond the period of abuse: the family’s earlier decision to send him there remains entangled with an administrative rule that limits his access to education.

Narrative Significance

The camp exposes the difference between an institution’s claim to correct a person and the harm its methods produce. Its stated project of changing Colton’s sexuality fails; he remains gay, while he leaves with lasting physical effects and a history he must decide when and how to disclose. The story gives that history through Colton’s measured, interrupted explanations and through the responses of listeners who do not demand further detail. Amit makes room for his first account, while Marcel listens and asks what he can do after Colton explains the camp and its aftermath.

Colton’s escape also sits within a larger set of constraints rather than resolving them. Leaving the camp saves him from the danger he fears, but it leads to street homelessness, police contact, and a temporary placement that ends when he turns eighteen and graduates. The institution remains significant in the narrative because its effects are not confined to one location or one period: they recur in Colton’s memories, his bodily experience, his disclosures in intimate relationships, and the practical barriers that shape his prospects.