This past weekend, my boyfriend wrote an essay for us about how he was subjected to corporal punishment, familial rejection and conversion therapy because of his sexual orientation.
As someone who grew up in a not-very-religious Toronto household, the idea of being a sinner or disordered or ill because you are LGBTQ was always a foreign concept.
But after I moved to the U.S. and started covering anti-LGBTQ movements, I realized that much of the most virulent hate and animus toward queer people comes from extreme Christian forces that are weaponizing religion and in turn inflicting countless Americans with decades of trauma and other mental health issues.
While many major religions can be rife with homo/transphobia, Christianity is the most influential bad actor in the States because it permeates all sectors of American life: Christian legal groups defending anti-LGBTQ legislation; Christian therapists trying to re-legalize conversion therapy in their practices; Christian colleges forcing honor codes onto students that could lead them to be expelled for engaging in any form of queer relationship; and Trump being closely aligned with Project 2025, a blueprint for Christian nationalism in government.
I’ve always sensed Christian extremism was fueling the mental health epidemic among LGBTQ kids.
But after the response to Sean’s story, that went from a feeling to a certainty.
Sean’s DMs were flooded with gratitude messages from other survivors of Christian extremism and there were thousands of likes and dozens of comments on our Instagram post from people who shared his pain.
There were messages from those still struggling:
Susiforshey: What a beautiful testimony. I love the last phrase: I finally feel calm and free. I hope for that for myself one day. ❤️
Greg.yan: Thank you so much for sharing, this is exactly what I needed to see today as I am about to write a letter to my parents whom I have not spoken to in over 2 years
And others from folks who have finally found peace:
Johnhuls83gogwood: 🙌👏❤️it’s a tough road. I’m 67 and the road was worth every tear, every single argument, every family member shunning and shaming me! ❤️I am free and visible and loved
Theliberatedporch: As someone who has called rural New York and Virginia home, thank you for sharing your story. While these experiences can be shared by so many, it can often feel like you’re the only one or the few when these stories are quieted. Your life’s story shows to others that life gets so much better when uncloseted even though it can be difficult, especially in the beginning.
We need a reckoning to stop the weaponization of a religion that is supposed to teach us how to love.
For decades, we have heard one-off stories from survivors and watched movies about conversion therapy.
But so many survivors of Christian extremism keep their trauma between their ears.
What I really think we need is a movement akin to what #MeToo did in 2017 for the countless survivors of sexual violence.
A survivor-centered, grassroots campaign where people band together in solidarity and go public with their trauma.
We should take from the #MeToo playbook: when a critical mass comes together and uses social media to amplify their stories of survival, change can come.
As we saw with #MeToo, this amplification can hold perpetrators to account and start a game-changing conversation about how time should be up for those who are using so-called religious freedom laws to commit physical, verbal and emotional abuse under the guise of Christian values.
