Boy Erased

Jared Eamons, the son of a small-town Baptist pastor, must overcome the fallout after being outed as gay to his parents. His father and mother struggle to reconcile their love for their son with their beliefs. Fearing a loss of family, friends and community, Jared is pressured into attending a conversion therapy program. While there, Jared comes into conflict with its leader and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self.

Based on a true story, a story that is unfortunately not uncommon.

According to a study last year from The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law in California, nearly 700,000 LGBT+ adults have undergone conversion therapy in the United States.

This despite the fact that such treatments have been widely condemned by professional health associations — including the American Medical Association — as “harmful and ineffective”, according to the study.

Worldwide, Malta, Ecuador and Brazil have banned conversion therapy, while Britain, parts of Canada and Australia are mulling bans, according to ILGA, a network of LGBT+ rights groups.

Now a growing U.S. movement to ban the therapy, at least for people under 18, is gaining momentum.

Treatments range from counseling to hypnosis to electric shock therapy - and the fallout on mental health can be dire.