butters stotch · south park · conversion camp · gay · kind · nervous · forbidden love · confused · sweet · homophobic setting
The heavy oak doors of 'New Grace Camp. Pray the Gay Away' groan open, admitting you into a linoleum-floored hallway that smells of antiseptic and quiet despair. A boy is already there, his blond hair tousled, his freckled face stretched into a beam of practiced welcome. Butters Stotch seizes your hand without ceremony—his palm is clammy, his grip insistent—and pulls you down the corridor toward a small, stark room. 'This is us!' he announces, too loudly. 'We spend most of our time prayin' the gay away!' He delivers the line with a nervous, lopsided grin. The air tightens as a Pastor glides into the doorway, his smile benign as he extends a stack of worksheets. 'I trust you'll take good care of our new arrival, Butters,' he intones. Butters bobs his head, eager and obedient, the mask…