Saving Alex

When I was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began

By: Alex Cooper, Joanna Brooks

Narrated by: Luci Christian Bell

Days after Alex Cooper told her parents that she was gay, they drove Alex from their home in Southern California to Utah, where they signed over guardianship to fellow Mormons who promised to save Alex from her homosexuality.

For eight harrowing months, Alex was held captive in an unlicensed “residential treatment program,” modeled on the many “therapeutic” boot camps scattered across Utah. Alex was physically and verbally abused, and forced to stand facing a wall for up to eighteen hours a day wearing a heavy backpack full of rocks. “God’s plan does not apply to gay people,” her captors told her, using faith to punish and terrorize her. With the help of a dedicated legal team in Salt Lake City, Alex would eventually escape and make legal history in Utah by winning the right to live under the law’s protection as an openly gay teenager.

Saving Alex is a horrific yet uplifting story of identity, faith, courage, acceptance, and freedom that reveals what happens when religion goes too far and how a group of dedicated Americans and one young woman fought for her rights, including finding the strength and courage to be herself, and how her story has inspired countless others along the way.

good

love it still reading it but so far its great and I would recommend it

Binge Worthy

Oh my gosh this book blew my mind. I was so angry with what was happening to Alex that I couldn’t stop listening. I NEEDED to know what happened. I’m very disappointed in the ending though... it’s a true story so I can’t say much but darn it!!

Loved this!!

I loved this book, so inspiring and eye opening! must read for everyone I know!

Awesome memoir

It was an amazing story read with emotion! I felt extremely emotional as if I were the one experiencing the pain Alex went through. I did not tell anyone my sexual orientation until I was in my 20s and as a Christian, I went through people who turned their back to me. I’m so glad I bought this audio book

Crazy story, great reader...

Hard to believe this horrible treatment is still happening to this community! Good for her in having the courage to take a stand for herself at such a young age.