NPR

Activists And Suicide Prevention Groups Seek Bans On Conversion Therapy For Minors

Conversion therapy aims at changing a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The practice is discredited by mental health professionals and is linked to higher rates of suicide.
Greg McDonald Jr. (left) with his fiance Jon Jost. McDonald's parents considered sending him to counseling when they were concerned he was gay. Now they support a ban on conversion therapy.

Peter Nunn is 32 and he's happy. He lives just outside Atlanta with his husband Monte, his dog Amelie, and their cat Hollow.

The dining room is decorated with a photo gallery wall of family — his husband dancing with his mother at their wedding and pictures of the couple. But it took a long time and work to get to a place where Nunn said he accepted and loved himself.

As a gay man, Nunn said, his father tried to change him.

"When I was 15 my parents found a men's workout magazine that I had and drew their own conclusions," he said. "My dad told me we were going to go on a trip and didn't tell me where we were going."

On the way to their mystery destination Nunn's father turned to him.

"He said he was going to take me to a therapy center to deal with whatever weird sexual stuff I had going on," Nunn said. "If it didn't work he was going to send me to military school

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