Straight Christian Lived Full Year As A Gay Man, No Longer Homophobic

With the help of his gay friend Shawn, Timothy "came out" and began living life as a gay man in an effort to understand how society treats gay people, and he was shocked at how quickly he was shunned by his closest friends and family.

"The thing that struck me most was the isolation. Before I came out as gay, I had a very busy social life," he said.

"After I came out, I didn't hear from 95 percent of my friends."

And perhaps most hurtful, was what he found in his own mother's journal when he took a peek to see what she thought about having a gay son.

"I'd rather have found out from a doctor that I had terminal cancer than have a gay son," she wrote.

While Timothy frequented gay bars and gay establishments, he even employed his friend Shawn to act as his boyfriend, which served the double purpose of feigning off unwanted advances from other gay men and establishing himself as a real gay man.

"I needed protection to keep me balanced and teach me the nuances of gay culture and how they flirt, and to give me an excuse when guys hit on me," he said.

"Shawn was the first gay person that I let into my heart. He was totally there for me through emotional turmoil. I trusted him."

Timothy admits in his book that before he lived as a gay man for a year the idea of being around homosexuals repulsed him, but now he says all homophobia is gone.