The Human Rights Campaign and the National Center for Lesbian Rights released Just As They Are, a comprehensive resource for parents on the harmful practice known as “conversion therapy.”
The guide helps parents recognize when and how conversion therapy is promoted, provides information about the dangers of the practice, and outlines best practices for parents seeking to promote the health and well-being of their LGBTQ child, including finding inclusive counseling services and churches. It features the voices of LGBTQ youth and young adults who have been subjected to this dangerous and debunked “therapy,” including Lynse, a gender non-binary and queer former congregant at Ted Haggard’s New Life Church, and Darren, a Black, gay, Christian man who once made his home in a church basement where he was forbidden from leaving without his pastor’s permission. Their stories highlight the devastating harm that conversion therapy, along with family and community rejection, can have on LGBTQ young people.
