#BornPerfect – More than a Hashtag, a Movement

By Michael Airhart–

The 45th anniversary of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) was a year of stellar progress for Born Perfect, our survivor-led campaign launched in 2014 to end the dangerous and discredited practice of “conversion therapy.” In 2022 alone, we worked to pass ordinances in 11 municipalities and advanced prohibitions in two states. We also partnered with the Biden Administration to enact a sweeping Executive Order, and represented survivors filing regulatory complaints against conversion therapists in Kentucky and Texas.

Here’s a look back at the year of successes for Born Perfect:

Pennsylvania

Conversion therapy survivors and their families won a huge victory in August, when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed Executive Order 2022-2 launching statewide action to curtail conversion therapy. The order prohibits the use of state funds and other resources for conversion therapy. State agencies will instead promote evidence-based best medical practices for LGBTQ individuals and update their procedures to better support LGBTQIA+ state employees and Pennsylvanians.

Washington State and the 9th Circuit

In a major legal victory for NCLR, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in September upheld Washington state’s law protecting LGBTQ youths from conversion therapy. We were proud to represent our client Equal Rights Washington in court, defeating conversion therapists’ false argument that their abuse of professional licensing constitutes protected free speech. This was the fifth federal case to uphold our defense of conversion therapy prohibitions on professional and ethical grounds.

The Ninth Circuit ruling reinforces laws against conversion therapy throughout the western United States.

Municipal Actions

Over the course of 2022, we helped local advocates in 11 cities enact ordinances prohibiting conversion therapy against minors by licensed professionals. Two additional cities passed resolutions urging their state governments to halt conversion therapy statewide. Born Perfect provides municipal leaders and local LGBTQ advocates not only with legal expertise, but also data on conversion therapists in their region, and survivor insights to help inform policy-making decisions. Importantly, we achieved many of these measures in states where much work remains to be done to build statewide legislative support for LGBTQ youth and their families.

Federal Action

In June, after months of consultation with NCLR, President Joe Biden signed a courageous and unprecedented executive order that takes comprehensive measures to protect the American people from conversion therapy.

President Biden’s executive order:

• Instructs the Federal Trade Commission “to consider whether so-called conversion therapy constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or practice, and to issue such consumer warnings or notices as may be appropriate.”
• Addresses discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQ children and their families, directing key agencies to protect families and children. 
• Prevents so-called “conversion therapy” by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to prevent federally funded programs from offering conversion therapy. HHS will also raise public awareness about the harms of conversion therapy, assist health care providers, and expand services to help survivors. 
• Addresses the barriers in health care that LGBTQ individuals and families face in accessing care. HHS will help prevent LGBTQ suicide by expanding youth access to suicide prevention resources, and issue new guidance on evidence-informed mental health care for LGBTQ youth. 
• Addresses the barriers in foster care and child welfare systems to LGBTQ youth, parents, caretakers, and families.
• Supports families with LGBTQ youth with voluntary family counseling and support programs, and research into the impacts of family rejection on the mental health and long-term wellbeing of LGBTQ individuals.

Early in the process, Born Perfect and NCLR were at the table with the Biden administration, ensuring that this executive order would address systemic injustices that drive LGBTQ people and their families toward conversion therapy. The executive order accommodated our concerns, including measures to address equitable access to federal programs and benefits, LGBTQ homelessness and housing equity, access to gender affirmative care, safe and inclusive schools, and LGBTQ youth in juvenile justice systems. 

Informing Our Services with Data

In 2022, Born Perfect tripled its tracking of conversion therapy activity at the local level. We now track 4,800 counselors and 1,200 organizations that conduct or promote conversion therapy. Some 770 of these counselors are licensed professionals that will be subject to any legal restrictions enacted in their locality.

This data has proven vital to municipal and state lawmakers in documenting that conversion therapy is happening locally, and therefore the need to stop these harmful practices is equally real.

Survivor Strength in Action

Late last year, our national public service announcement, Bobby’s Big Problem ( https://tinyurl.com/4zu87ftp ), offered a promising glimpse of things to come. Co-created by Born Perfect and Enfranchisement Productions and directed by the award-winning queer artist Carly Usdin, Bobby’s Big Problem exposes the absurdity of conversion therapy. The short film also includes an all-star cast including Patton Oswalt, D’Arcy Carden, Jasika Nicole, and RB Butcher.

In 2022, Born Perfect and NCLR filed state regulatory complaints against Kentucky therapist Joseph A. Williams on behalf of survivor Curtis Galloway, and against Mary Damkroger, a licensed psychologist in Plano, Texas, on behalf of Jessica Ritter. We won substantial sanctions against the counselor in Kentucky, and closer scrutiny of disturbing practices in Texas.

More to Come

Looking forward to 2023, Born Perfect is strengthening its network of 395 survivors of conversion therapy. Many of them support other survivors while courageously advocating to stop conversion therapy through legislation, outreach to religious communities, public education, and regulatory action against counselors.

At NCLR, we have been fighting to end the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy even before we launched our Born Perfect campaign in 2014. Since then, we have passed laws in 20 states and more than 100 localities protecting LGBTQ youth from this harmful practice. And we won’t stop until we finally end the serious harms caused by these dangerous practices.

Michael Airhart is the Born Perfect Program Associate at the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Published on November 3, 2022