Nashville man pretends to be gay for a year to understand impact of gay label

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Nashville resident Timothy Kurek had long understood homosexuality to be sinful, but when a friend was rejected by her family for coming out, he sought to understand how gay people are treated in society through an unusual experiment.

After a full year in which he posed as gay to everyone in his life, he is now writing a book about how much he learned about anti-gay discrimination and stigma.

Today, Kurek explained to MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts that the book is not about what it’s like to be gay, but about how gay people are treated. He said the experience “altered my faith and challenged my beliefs,” apologizing for his past disapproval of homosexuality.