I work for the National Centre for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a legal organisation fighting for the rights of LGBT people across the US. In 2014, we launched Born Perfect, a campaign to end the deadly practice of ‘conversion therapy’, which refers to attempts to stop a person from being LGBTQ by pressuring them to change their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Few practices hurt LGBTQ youth more than ‘conversion therapy’ – also known as ‘reparative therapy’, ‘ex-gay therapy’ or ‘sexual orientation change efforts’ (SOCE). It can cause depression, substance abuse and suicide. It’s promoted and practised by many people, including professional therapists and spiritual advisers (such as a pastor, priest, rabbi or imam).
According to a 2018 study by the Family Acceptance Project, rates of attempted suicide by LGBTQ young people whose parents tried to change their sexual orientation were more than double (48%) those of LGBT young adults who reported no conversion experiences (22%). And for young people who reported both home-based efforts (by parents) and external efforts (by therapists and/or religious leaders) to change their sexual orientation, the attempted suicide rate nearly tripled (63%).
