Good News

Remember Zach? The 16 year-old boy in Tennessee who was sent to a reparative therapy camp against his will?

Thanks to the national attention his case garnered from his blog post, he's been released. PFLAG has released a statement concerning not only this case, but the dangers surrounding reparative therapy in general.

Immediately before entering the program, Zach wrote, "I’ve been through hell. I’ve been emotionally torn apart for three days" and "Honestly how could you support a program like this? If I do come out straight I’ll be so mentally unstable and depressed it won’t matter."

Zach's fears were well-founded. According to the AMA (American Medical Association) and APA (American Psychiatric Association), "reparative therapy" does not work. But the dangers of these programs are real. At a minimum, those in "reparative therapy" must cope with the emotional damage of being relentlessly badgered with fear tactics and being told to change who they are. At worse they are at risk for self-destructive behavior including suicide."

Zach's story is far from unique, and Love in Action is certainly not the only "ex-gay" program out there. However, I hope that the national attention this situation drew will help open people's eyes. Once enough people are aware of the problem, we will be able to change things for the better.