A Return to Harm? LGBTQ Youth Conversion Therapy Supreme Court Considers Upending Protections

About this episode

This episode explores the history and current legal challenges surrounding conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, highlighting the potential rollback of protections.

This episode traces the path from the days when homosexuality was labeled a mental illness, to bans on harmful therapy meant to turn LGBTQ minors straight, to a Supreme Court showdown that could roll back those protections. Featuring voices from survivors, scientists and advocates, the story unpacks how California became home to the earliest “ex-gay” movement only to face pushback with a first-in-the-nation ban on conversion therapy — and why its fate now hangs in the balance. Dr. Hooker audio excerpts courtesy of Making Gay History. Find the Making Gay History podcast on all major podcast platforms and at makinggayhistory.org. Special thanks to our underwriting sponsor: University of San Francisco MFA in Writing program.

Topics covered

• LGBTQ rights
• conversion therapy
• Supreme Court
• mental health
• advocacy

Keywords

• ex-gay movement
• California
• mental illness
• therapy bans
• survivors

Sponsors

University of San Francisco MFA in Writing program

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Making Gay History podcast

Books & works: Making Gay History

Places: California

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