A 22-year-old man stands before a classroom of middle schoolers, describing how he came out as a homosexual and going so far as to declare, "there are gay students in this classroom."

The young man is Noe Gutierrez, Jr., and the scene is one from "It's Elementary," an award-winning 1996 video (widely aired in 1999) which aims to give "practical lessons on how to talk with kids about gay people."

You won't find that scene in Gutierrez's latest video, however. Although he requested permission to use it, producer/director Debra Chasnoff turned him down. Apparently, she doesn't want schoolchildren knowing what's happened since then.

You see, Gutierrez is no longer gay.

The existence of ex-gays remains one of the biggest untold stories today. Generally ignored by the media, ex-gays are often shouted down by gay activists when they try to raise their voices.

They are misunderstood by both a secular society that largely accepts homosexuality and a religious world that largely doesn't.

But they won't remain closeted forever.