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Conversion Therapy Ban Bill Gets Backing From Former Supporters

Randy Thomas is former executive vice president of Exodus International. It has since closed and he now advocates against conversion therapy.
Blaise Gainey
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Randy Thomas is former executive vice president of Exodus International. It has since closed and he now advocates against conversion therapy.
Credit Blaise Gainey / WFSU
/
The Florida Channel
Randy Thomas is former executive vice president of Exodus International. It has since closed and he now advocates against conversion therapy.

Lawmakers are filing bills to stop counselors from practicing conversion therapy on minors. Former conversion therapy practitioners are rising to support the bill.

The controversial practice is mostly known for trying to change someone from gay to straight. As a gay man, Randy Thomas advocated for conversion therapy. But he stopped after his friend committed suicide.

Activists against conversion therapy showed up at the press conference.
Credit Blaise Gainey / WFSU
/
The Florida Channel
Activists against conversion therapy showed up at the press conference.

“He had gone back to being gay. And he had gotten involved in a difficult situation.  And conversion therapy taught him that he was broken and he couldn’t get rid of it. He thought that he was experiencing these negative experiences because somehow God was punishing him and he took his own life," says Thomas.

Thomas is now supporting two bills that would ban counselors from using conversion therapy on anyone under 18. He spoke at a press conference at the Capitol Tuesday. A 1999 study from the American Psychological Association notes conversion therapy is not effective at changing a person’s sexual orientation.

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Robbie Gaffney is a recent graduate from Florida State University with degrees in Digital Media Production and Creative Writing. Before working at WFSU, they recorded FSU’s basketball and baseball games for Seminole Productions as well as interned for the PBS Station in Largo, Florida. Robbie loves playing video games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Their other hobbies include sleeping and watching anime.