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ELLEN, 23, ENGLAND
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IZZY, 18, SCOTLAND
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ROB, 16, CALIFORNIA
The church that my family attended was also extremely conservative and was much like co-op. They're also well-known for their anti-LGBTQ measures and have been actively collecting signatures to stop anti-LGBTQ discrimination laws. Knowing this, I was careful who I told.Around this time, my school reverend would constantly lecture me why as to why I shouldn't listen to a certain type of music or wear certain clothes. He told me to "man up" and be the person God had made me to be. He even made me have "therapy sessions." He told me to "pray the gay away," and I complied not because I believed it, but because I thought it would make things stop. Near the end of these sessions, I ran away and was so close to ending it right there. My parents were against me, all my friends from church were against me. I felt the lowest I had ever been. After a month of attending the sessions, though, everyone thought I'd been cured."The school reverend told me to 'man up' and 'pray the gay away.'"
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