Filmmaker Zach Meiners own personal journey as a late ‘bloomer’ coming out as a gay man kickstarted this documentary into existence. He was horrified to discover that his former conversion “therapist” was still active,. Thankfully he channelled his anger to begin this film as an endeavor to amplify and empower the voices of survivors, and expose the secretive and often deadly industry.
The result is a very powerful story told by survivors takes us on a personal and cinematic journey as a filmmaker, an ex-Mormon mom, and a famous drag queen who unite to overcome the mental and physical impacts of enduring conversion “therapy.” .
Meiners includes interviews from doctors, experts, and the founder of one of the most expansive conversion “therapy” networks in the US. For those of us unaware of the practice, the film is a thought provoking insight into a dangerous underground industry that is constantly rebranding, adapting and growing to this day.
When QUEERGURU reviewed the film we wrote “Conversion therapy is the weird pseudo-scientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression to align with heterosexual or cis-gender norms. This abuse has been widespread across the US for decades, most often initiated by twisted religious parents trying to ‘cure’ their queer child. Queer youth are particularly vulnerable, often unsure of their sexuality and fearful of negative messaging in religious education as well as in wider homophobic society. Shockingly, approximately 700,000 US citizens have received conversion therapy at some point in their lives.” ‘
We talked to Zach Meiners, himself a survivor of conversion therapy, about the film, which we believe should be compulsory viewing for our LGBTQ+ community in particular. Everyone should be aware of this evil practice that ruins lives
Conversion can be viewed on Apple TV from July 2nd