Conversion therapy is harmful and dangerous

On April 9, the Yale Humanist Community hosted Garrard Conley, author of “Boy Erased,” a powerful memoir about a young man’s experiences in “exgay” conversion therapy, at one of our community gatherings. Hearing Garrard talk about his struggle to embrace his identity as a gay man, I found myself reflecting back on my own experiences in a fundamentalist community that told me I needed to reject my queer identity, and how profoundly damaging that experience was. This is why HB 6695, a bill that would ban conversion therapy for minors in Connecticut, is so important.

Conversion therapy is harmful and dangerous, especially to youths, who are often vulnerable and not given a choice about whether or not they participate in it. When you are told that you need to reject a fundamental piece of who you are, the damage can be lasting — which is why the nation’s leading medical, mental health, and human services professional organizations all reject it as a legitimate practice. Fortunately, Connecticut legislators have the chance to ban conversion therapy for youths by passing HB 6695, and we need them to act now.

The day I heard Garrard Conley’s story of overcoming his experiences in conversion therapy was also my 30th birthday — a milestone I wasn’t sure I would reach back when I was a closeted queer adolescent. I couldn’t imagine a happy future for myself as an out queer person, but now that I’ve reached it, I want to ensure others won’t have to struggle like Garrard and I did. Together we can make sure that the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and queer youth of today are able to imagine a future for themselves that doesn’t include dehumanizing practices like conversion therapy.

— Chris Stedman Executive director, Yale Humanist Community New Haven