UnErased: The Past And Present Of Conversion Therapy In The United States

UnErased is the story of conversion therapy in the United States, a podcast series which brings previously unheard voices from conversion therapy groups to the foreground. 

In the first episode, we meet Boy Erased author Garrard Conley, whose memoir has now been adapted as a major film. But the podcast offers broader context on the challenges he faced as a young gay man struggling with his devout father, an unforgiving god, and an ex-gay movement which for too long has been able to keep its abuses silent. The episode narrates how he manages to escape from a conversion camp in a dramatic manner, which I believe adds another dimension to the film. 

In the second episode, we meet a group of like-minded mothers who came together as they went through the experiences of LGBT kids coming out, while at the same time facing their own threats of excommunication from Church. 

Rather than disown their own kids, however, these brave mothers – the Mama Bears – came out in defense of mothers in similar situations and their sons and daughters in despair. 

This is very much a timely issue in the United States: Around 698,000 LGBT adults have gone through conversion therapy in the US, and more than half went through this harrowing experience in their adolescence, according to a report by UCLA School of Law. And while some bills have been introduced to promote a federal-level ban against the practice, conversion therapy is still legal in 41 out of 50 states.

Let's hope the film and podcast start moving the masses for change in this matter.