The new documentary Pray Away chronicles the conversion therapy movement’s rise, its persistent influence, and the harm it causes.
Each week Pray Away will be posting stories of survivors.
Please follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and the web – and share the word about this powerful film with your friends and family.
Born Perfect is the leading campaign to end conversion therapy. We are survivors, lawyers, and policy experts working together to protect LGBTQ+ people nationally and around the globe. Born Perfect is a program of National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
Marriage equality rally in Brisbane (Credit: Shutterstock)
The northeast Australian state of Queensland outlawed conversion therapy this week when State Parliament voted 47-41 to approve health legislation, according to the Star Observer.
Queensland is home to more than five million Australians. Its capital city is Brisbane.
While the ban protects both minors and adults, survivor-led groups SOGICE Survivors and Brave Network say the law does not go far enough, as it omits care that occurs in unlicensed settings.
Born Perfect is the leading campaign to end conversion therapy. We are survivors, lawyers, and policy experts working together to protect LGBTQ+ people nationally and around the globe. Born Perfect is a program of National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
An influential psychiatrist who advocated for conversion therapy, particularly among LGBTQ members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has apologized for his harmful and scientifically unsupported advocacy.
What changed Dr. Allen Bergin’s mind, according to Pink News: his two gay sons and grandson.
“I was among the traditionalists who believed that homosexuality was a disorder and that it could be treated and changed to some degree,” he wrote. “I regret being part of a professional, religious, and public culture that marginalized, pathologized, and excluded LGBT+ persons. As a father of two gay sons and grandfather of a gay grandson, I’ve been given a personal education that has been painful and enlightening.”
Born Perfect is the leading campaign to end conversion therapy. We are survivors, lawyers, and policy experts working together to protect LGBTQ+ people nationally and around the globe. Born Perfect is a program of National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
The BBC violated its own editorial guidelines on August 10 when a report created false balance between a survivor and critic of conversion therapy, and a leading proponent and supposed “ex-gay” success story.
The report began with Gareth, a survivor, discussing the lasting damage caused by attempts to “cure” him of his sexual orientation. But then the segment provided Core Issues Trust CEO Mike Davidson with a soapbox, lacking any meaningful fact-checking.
Among other concerns, according to Pink News, critics noted that the BBC report created false ambiguity over whether this harmful and discredited practice is a legitimate form of therapy, dangerously presenting a fraudulent scam “in a palatable way.”
Pink News notes that the BBC’s guidelines make clear “impartiality usually involves more than a simple matter of ‘balance’ between opposing viewpoints” and “does not require absolute neutrality on every issue.”
Born Perfect is the leading campaign to end conversion therapy. We are survivors, lawyers, and policy experts working together to protect LGBTQ+ people nationally and around the globe. Born Perfect is a program of National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
Fifty years ago, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness. With the new documentary Cured, directors Patrick Sammon and Bennett Singer tell the story of the LGBTQ activists who struggled against unscientific prejudice and inertia at the APA to reclassify homosexuality. The film premieres this month.
Born Perfect is very proud to be partnering with this informative and poignant production.
The film’s first trailer debuted this week:
Cured will make its world premiere August 24 at a virtual edition of Outfest Los Angeles. A discussion will follow, with the directors as well as activists Don Kilhefner and Rev. Magora Kennedy, who appear in the film. Pose co-creator Steven Canals will moderate.
Born Perfect is the leading campaign to end conversion therapy. We are survivors, lawyers, and policy experts working together to protect LGBTQ+ people nationally and around the globe. Born Perfect is a program of National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
The Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit has banned two LGBTQ Catholic groups from church premises and ceremonies and directed LGBTQ Catholics instead to submit to a form of conversion therapy, according to Metro Weekly.
Courage, a conservative Catholic organization that once promoted gay celibacy, now offers a form of conversion therapy that consists of a fraudulent 12-step program and denial of one’s orientation or gender identity.
Both banned groups responded. Rev. Victor Clore of Fortunate Families said that his group offered support to LGBTQ families and does not “promote anything sinful.” Frank D’Amore, president of Dignity Detroit, said, “Courage is like a 12-step program, which is kind of insulting. [We] don’t need a 12-step program. It’s ludicrous.”
Born Perfect is the leading campaign to end conversion therapy. We are survivors, lawyers, and policy experts working together to protect LGBTQ+ people nationally and around the globe. Born Perfect is a program of National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
