A British trans woman who survived conversion therapy as a teenager is publicly sharing the trauma of attempts to “correct” her gender identity. Brydon chose to share her journey in order to refute author J.K. Rowling, who dangerously and wrongly equated gender transition with conversion therapy.
Jo Brydon, now 24, went through conversion therapy between the ages of 11 and 15. Brydon was subjected to conversion therapy by a U.S. religious group via online video calls, according to Pink News.
Rowling’s ignorant statements brought back “all the suicidal thoughts, pain, and isolation” of Brydon’s experience.
“Please stop,” she wrote to the author on Twitter. “The people who were primarily responsible for my abuse saw no difference between me being trans and me being attracted to men. I received the same abuse for both. If they saw me now they would still try to goad me into suicide.”
She added: “You don’t care that professionals working in the field of trauma therapy have celebrated my transition as a victory over my abusers.”
Brydon says that, contrary to Rowling’s rosy characterization, her therapists demonized effeminate men and equated LGBTQ people with the culture of rape depicted by the Bible in the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Born Perfect is a survivor-led program created by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) in 2014 to end conversion therapy by passing laws across the country that protect LGBTQ children and young people, fighting in courtrooms to ensure their safety, and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by these dangerous practices. https://bornperfect.org