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Survivor Details Torture in Conversion Therapy Program
31 Mar
Summary
- Garrard Conley survived a conversion therapy program in 2004.
- The Supreme Court ruled conversion therapy is protected speech.
- Conley describes the program's methods as psychological torture.
Garrard Conley, whose memoir 'Boy Erased' chronicled his experience with conversion therapy, has voiced his distress following a recent Supreme Court decision. The court's 8-1 ruling restricts states' power to prohibit conversion therapy for minors, deeming the practice protected speech.
In 2004, at age 19, Conley was compelled to attend Love in Action, a program he describes as psychologically damaging. His time there involved intense sessions, including mapping sins across family trees and confronting imagined parental figures, all under the doctrine that homosexuality was a sin to be cured.
Conley details how the program, run by John Smid, utilized methods akin to a 12-step model, grouping individuals with diverse issues. He recalls exercises like the 'lie chair,' intended to force participants to express hatred towards parental figures, which he refused, leading to his anger and eventual departure.
He expressed deep disappointment with the ruling, interpreting it as a dismissal of survivors' experiences. Conley argued that the court's framing of conversion therapy as speech, rather than a question of medical regulation, suggests an undervaluation of LGBTQ+ identities, treating them as debatable concepts.
