"The numbers don't lie. The Trevor Project's new Project SPARK report found that the number of LGBTQ+ youth threatened with conversion therapy doubled in just one year, from 11 to 22 percent. Those who experienced it rose from 9 to 15 percent. At the same time, access to legitimate mental health care dropped sharply, from 80 percent of those seeking help being able to access it to only 60 percent a year later."
"When I was nineteen, I walked into a therapist's office convinced I could make myself straight. No one forced me there. I went because I believed being accepted by my family and church community meant fixing what they said was broken in me. Conversion therapy promised that change was possible through the power of Jesus Christ. I spent eight years in conversion therapy."
Project SPARK followed more than 1,600 LGBTQ+ young people across the United States for a full year. Threats of conversion therapy doubled from 11 to 22 percent and those who experienced it rose from 9 to 15 percent. Access to legitimate mental health care fell from 80 percent to 60 percent among those seeking help. Anxiety rose from 57 to 68 percent, depression from 48 to 54 percent, and suicidal thoughts from 41 to 47 percent. One survivor spent eight years in conversion therapy, suffered a nervous breakdown, left after nearly taking their life, and Exodus later acknowledged few people changed; conversion-practice networks persisted with over 1,300 practitioners across 48 states in 2023.
Read at Advocate.com
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