"There is a real sense of people wanting an outsider. I'm not the only outsider, but I'm the outsider that has had the most legislative experience. To be able to be an outsider who's passed over 150 pieces of legislation all across the country and did it without ever being a politician really speaks to people, and people are moved by that."
"His experience with conversion therapy - which has been denounced by all credible professional associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, and described by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture as amounting to a form of torture - from the ages of 16-21 spurred his activism."
Mathew Shurka, a conversion therapy survivor, is running for the Democratic nomination for New York's 12th Congressional District seat. He faces competition from Jack Schlossberg and George Conway in the June 23 primary. Shurka emphasizes his legislative experience, having passed over 150 pieces of legislation across cities and states banning conversion therapy without holding political office. He positions himself as an outsider appealing to Democratic voters dissatisfied with the party establishment. If elected, Shurka would likely be the first conversion therapy survivor serving in Congress. His activism stems from personal experience with the practice between ages 16-21, leading him to co-found the Born Perfect campaign in 2014 to end conversion therapy nationwide.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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