Shortly after Timothy Kurek 'came out' as gay, he started snooping around his mother's journal to find out how she really felt about having a homosexual son. He got his answer. 

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

But unknown to her and the rest of Kurek's friends and family, it was all part of the devout Christian and straight male's yearlong investigation to discover what it's like to live as a young gay man.

The Portland, Ore., man told ABC that he first conceived the project after a friend he knew from karaoke confided in him that she was a lesbian, and that her parents had just disowned her over the revelation.

For years, Kurek had been told that the loving thing to do as a Christian would be to tell his friend that she was an abomination and who should repent immediately if she wanted to go to heaven.

But this time the idea of converting his friend made Kurek ashamed of himself. 

'I feel God really kicked me in the gut,' he said. 'She was crying in my arms and instead of being there for her, I was thinking about all the arguments to convert her.' 

'It finally clicked,' he said. 'I needed to empathize and understand.'