I could never know what it is like to have parents that didn't love you. I think having loving parents is the most wonderful thing in my life. I never want to know what it is like to not have a parent not love you just the way you are.
So when I hear that conversion therapy still goes on in this nation, that there are parents that do not love their child just they way they are, it saddens me tremendously. The case mentioned below is Sarah's struggle against her parents. But it is a fight she is not battling alone.
Internet users around the world are rallying online to help a 17-year-old Texas teen named Sarah, whose parents sent her to an East Texas Christian boarding facility to "pray away the gay," according to a GoFundMe campaign run by her cousin Jeremy.
Jeremy Jordan is a Broadway star with hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram, many of whom are now circulating Sarah's story with the hashtag #SaveSarah. "Sarah and her girlfriend wanted to go to prom together. But when they did that, Sarah's parents, who believe that homosexuality is a sin and abnormal, sent Sarah away against her will," Jordan wrote on GoFundMe, which already raised more than $15,000 for the legal battle to free Sarah from her parent's punishment.
"She is not allowed phone calls or email or any form of computer communication. She is also not allowed visitors and cannot leave the property," Jordan wrote on GoFundMe. "She tried to run away, but was caught by the staff and returned to the facility."
Practicing "conversion therapy" on minors has been banned in California, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and Illinois. These "therapy" programs are designed to rid LGBTQ youth of their same-sex desires and condition them to seek heterosexual relationships. They can be so harsh that they've drawn criticism from the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which deemed the practice a violation of human rights. – mic.com
Few states have outright banned the practice, despite a report by the American Psychological Association showing participants had higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. According to a report by the Human Rights Campaign, youth who underwent "conversion therapy" were eight times more likely to attempt suicide.
Last April, Senators Patty Murray and Cory Booker introduced the first federal law to restrict its use against minors, the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act. But in the meantime, teens like Sarah are still struggling in an uphill battle against the legal system. That's why Jordan and Sarah's aunt have reportedly hired a lawyer who specializes in LGBT issues to help free Sarah from the system. (Mic has reached out to Jordan and will update if we hear back.) – mic.com
"Attorney's fees in the first few weeks have already exceeded $20,000, and they are continuing to mount, with a full hearing set for July," Jordan wrote on GoFundMe. "If we free Sarah we can help show that it's not okay to try to make gay teens straight by sending them away and using the threat of God against them." – mic.com
Should we get involved in family cases like this?
Is this the best use of GoFundMe you have seen in a long time?
Last I checked, the amount was just over $31k. Will you donate?
And why isn't there a national ban on conversion therapy?
This cannot be a state's rights thing, is it?
h/t: mic.com
Parents are the first line of
Parents are the first line of "quality control". The idea that parents love and respect all their children is a ludicrous romantic notion. A parent's duty is to best prepare their child as a productive and respectable citizen. Sarah's parents are exercising what control is available to them to correct what they believe is a problem and a shame in their daughter. Whether you agree or disagree with their opinion, they aren't shirking their responsibility.