Clarifying Truth of Service; Dispelling Slander by News Sites

I write to address concerns that friends, colleagues, family, and clients raised about recent news articles in which I’ve been named. I will briefly touch upon the articles’ content so we don’t support them with more readership; then I’ll dispel false information or slander represented.

A little over a week ago when I was at a family reunion Megan Brock, contributor to the Daily Caller News Foundation, posted an article about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to smear Shapiro, The Trevor Project (Trevor), and myself – by name. I believe she did this because the governor was reportedly on Vice President Harris’s shortlist of potential running mates and she was trying to discredit him. 

While parts of the article covered facts of my work with Trevor, she stretched the truth and added false claims in her reporting. (For example, we neither targeted religious conservatives nor pressed for gender affirmation surgery among nine and 10-year-olds. The latter is, in fact, not legal in any U.S. state. But more on that later…). Other false claims are found in subsequent news sites in Tennessee, Ohio, Connecticut, and throughout the country, including on FoxNews.com and with Charlie Kirk's podcast, but I don't care to list them all and nobody spoke with me. 

Let me start by clarifying my role. In January 2019, a board leader of The Trevor Project recruited me to help raise awareness, recruit volunteers, identify major donors, and provide advocacy introductions to the government relations and fundraising team. I am proud of the work, strategy, and fundraising that resulted from my 2.5 years of volunteering in Pennsylvania. 

Starting August 2021, I was contracted with Trevor to engage elected and appointed officials in Pennsylvania to increase support for legislative, executive, and licensing board changes on one issue: to ban the damaging activity of state licensed professionals to bill clients and their insurance for providing so-called LGBTQ+ conversion therapy to youth. 

Since 2021, I partnered with statewide, regional, and local organizations from all corners of Pennsylvania (over 70 of them), and strategized with our key allies (PFLAG National, National Association of Social Workers - PA Chapter, and Pennsylvania Psychological Association). Further, our volunteers endeavored together to cut back the harmful effects of conversion therapy we know causes suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth*. In recognition of these facts and our efforts, Governor Tom Wolf signed an Executive Order to prevent government dollars from being used to support LGBTQ conversion therapy in the Commonwealth.  

Two Recent Wins Over the Past Year

As part of the 2023-2024 key strategy, we engaged Governor Shapiro's Cabinet and State Licensing Boards. We were very clear that we were neither publishing nor doxing any of the names we found during Trevor’s research* of conversion therapists practicing on youth in Pennsylvania and were not pursuing any action that might infringe on the religious freedoms celebrated and allowed for in our Constitution. Instead, we were focused on licensed professionals who agree to abide by a set of standards, values, and principles associated with their profession and license. Our efforts resulted in two successful outcomes:

1. The team under Governor Shapiro listened and took action, deciding they would investigate any reports of conversion therapy by state licensed professionals for the purpose of determining any disciplinary action.

    

2. In May and June, five PA State Licensing Boards (Medicine; Nursing; Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors; Psychology; and Osteopathic Medicine) voted in favor of a policy to acknowledge the harm that conversion therapy causes and expressed an openness to investigate reports of licensed individuals proceeding with this activity with clients. 

We celebrated this movement because the policy change is meaningful for the decisionmakers. The standards of practice are finally on a path to be followed in terms of conversion therapy.

Let me reiterate my pride for the work we did to facilitate statewide town hall meetings, meetings with elected and appointed officials, and coordination among volunteers to create the change we sought – to cut back a major cause of suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth*.

Background: Data about the Damaging Effects of Conversion Therapy

Conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice that teaches LGBTQ+ young people to feel ashamed of who they are. The resulting effect of conversion therapy leads to increased feelings of isolation and an increased rate of suicide attempts by LGBTQ young people, according to the research (see Sources).

Trevor research of publicly available data has identified 88 licensed individuals currently conducting so-called “conversion therapy” in Pennsylvania. These licensed providers include psychologists, social workers, family therapists, medical practitioners, and other licensed professionals. Via their research methodology, these are the practitioners Trevor's Casey Pick and her colleagues can confidently report they have self-identified as engaging in SOGICE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts).

Conversion therapy is still prevalent even today in Pennsylvania. According to Trevor's 2023 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth – 15% of LGBTQ youth were threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy. In 2021, for example, Trevor’s crisis counselors handled over 5,400 emergency calls alone that year from Pennsylvania youth. Trevor firmly believes we would have fewer crises among Pennsylvanian youth if conversion therapy were no longer allowed to go unchecked. According to the same Trevor National Survey:

• 41% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth.

   

• LGBTQ youth who were subjected to conversion therapy last year reported 2.5 times the rate of attempting suicide in the past year compared to those who were not.

   

• In 2021, Trevor's discovered that LGBTQ youth who reported being subjected to conversion therapy were an average of 15 years old at the time, with 83% of LGBTQ youth reporting that it occurred when they were younger than 18.

*Sources:

1. The Trevor Project, “2023 National Survey on LGBTQ Mental Health” (West Hollywood, CA: The Trevor Project, 2021),  

2. The Williams Institute, “LGBT Youth Population in the United States” (UCLA: The Williams Institute, 2020). 

3. The Trevor Project, “2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Mental Health” (West Hollywood, CA: The Trevor Project, 2021).

4. Amy E. Green et al., “Self-Reported Conversion Efforts and Suicidality Among US LGBTQ Youths and Young Adults, 2018,” American Journal of Public Health 110, no. 8 (June 18, 2020): 1221–27.