Skill Level: Intermediate Skill Level
The Tool: Understanding and Combating Conversion Therapy
Conversion therapy—also called “reparative therapy” by its defenders—is not therapy. It’s psychological and spiritual abuse wrapped in pseudo-science and religious guilt. The practice falsely claims to “change” a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling, prayer, or coercion.
Every credible medical and mental health organization—the APA, AMA, AAP, and WHO—condemns it as unethical and dangerous. Despite this, 27 U.S. states still lack full bans protecting minors.
With the Supreme Court now hearing Chiles v. Salazar (2025), right-wing lawyers are trying to rebrand these abuses as “free speech.” Translation: they want the legal right to harm queer kids under the First Amendment.
Why This Tool Matters
Conversion therapy survivors experience lifelong trauma. Research from The Trevor Project (2023) found that:
- LGBTQ+ youth subjected to it are twice as likely to attempt suicide.
- 61 % develop long-term depression, anxiety, or PTSD.
- Survivors report family rejection, loss of identity, and distrust of all therapists afterward.
When bans fall, extremists fill the gap. A Supreme Court ruling against Colorado could unravel protections in dozens of states. This isn’t about religion or speech—it’s about control. Once they can legally rewrite reality for queer youth, they’ll come for gender-affirming care, reproductive freedom, and honest sex education next.
Example of Resistance in Action
In 2018, activists in New York helped push through one of the nation’s strongest conversion-therapy bans by combining survivor testimony, medical data, and public pressure. They flooded hearings with expert witnesses, forced legislators to go on record, and exposed the junk science behind the practice. When the bill passed, it became a model for other states.
That same strategy—truth, visibility, and relentless advocacy—can stop this new wave of legal attacks.
Step-by-Step: How to Protect LGBTQ+ Youth
1. Learn Your State’s Status
Visit the Movement Advancement Project map to see whether conversion therapy is banned where you live. If it isn’t, call or email your representatives demanding immediate legislation.
2. Amplify Survivor Voices
Share stories from Born Perfect and The Trevor Project. Real accounts change minds faster than statistics alone.
3. Report the Abusers
Therapists engaging in conversion therapy violate professional ethics. Report them to state licensing boards using this APA complaint guide: APA Ethics Office.
4. Fund the Fighters
Donate or volunteer with The Trevor Project, GLSEN, or local queer youth shelters. Money saves lives when politics stalls.
5. Engage Faith Communities
Encourage progressive clergy to publicly reject conversion therapy. Many already have—help expand that chorus of compassion.
Kitty’s Warning
The fascists in robes aren’t defending “religious liberty.” They’re protecting their right to rewrite reality. If they win this one, the precedent could green-light every extremist with a pulpit and a counseling license.
Our defense is knowledge, solidarity, and claws.
🐾 Kitty’s Final Scratch
They can’t “convert” what’s real.
They can’t legislate away love.
And they sure as hell can’t stop this movement.
Protect. Educate. Resist. Repeat.
📚 Sources
- Reuters – SCOTUS hears Colorado conversion-therapy case
- PBS NewsHour – What the justices signaled in arguments
- The Trevor Project – 2023 National Survey
- Movement Advancement Project – Conversion-Therapy Map
- American Psychological Association – Resolution on SOCE
