There we were. Around the illustrious circular United Nations briefing tables at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, among the 70 human rights advocates from across the United States, the largest delegation in the history of the U.N.’s Committee Against Torture (CAT).

Together, as a leader of the National Center for Lesbian Right’s (NCLR) #BornPerfect campaign, I had spent a sleepless few days working around the clock to make Committee members aware of the dangers of convention therapy, especially for LGBTQ youth.

What happened this morning, we could have never imagined.

The moment the words “conversion therapy” left Rapporteur Jens Modvig’s lips, gasps filled the room. We had done it. Modvig, the CAT member from Denmark, asked the delegation from the U.S. State Department how conversion therapy could still be going on in the United States in 2014. I had done what we came here to do: For the first time, a United Nations committee had addressed conversion therapy as an international human rights issue. It was unbelievable.

But, before the shock could wear off, we heard the words again, this time from CAT Rapporteur Satyabhoosun Gupt Domah of Mauritius. Then, incredible, a third time, from Committee member Sapana Pradhan Malla of Nepal. For the first three times in the history of the United Nations, the Committee Against Torture was questioning a country on conversion therapy.

There was no going back. We had already won.

Today was a red letter day for underdogs. The CAT went in depth into many of the larger issues, like indefinite detention and the death penalty, but they also brought up a select few less likely ones, including the abuse suffered by transgender women in detention, racially targeted police violence in Chicago, and conversion therapy.

As representatives of NCLR, we didn’t do it alone. We have been in extraordinary company this week, and our fellow advocates here to testify on other important issues here couldn’t be more behind us. Yesterday, they lent me their strength as I testified before the U.S. State Department to ensure the voices of the survivors back in the United States were heard.

I testified that as many as one in three LGBTQ people have been subjected to some form of conversion therapy and that the American Psychological Association has linked it to depression, substance abuse, and suicide. I also told them that federal funds and juvenile justice systems are just two of the ways the government is implicated in its continued foothold in the United States. I’m confident that what I told them changed more than a few minds.

This week has been historic in ways we haven’t begun to realize. We did what we came to Geneva to do. But we couldn’t have done it without our fellow human rights activists. This week, we broke bread and shared stories with some of the most committed, inspiring activists in the United States. Their issues have also become ours issues, and they’ve made our issues theirs. Today, intersectionality took on a whole new meaning. It isn’t just about dimensions of oppression. It’s about dimensions of humanity. From Phoenix to Ferguson to Guantanamo Bay, we know none of us succeed unless we all do.

SAM AMES is an attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, where they oversee the #BornPerfect campaign to end conversion therapy. Follow NCLR’s journey to Geneva by following the hashtags #BornPerfect and #EndTorture, on NCLRights.org, and on Twitter @NCLRights and @SamSAmesEsq. And feel free to share your own experiences with therapy using #BornPerfect.

Learn more about #BornPerfect.