Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about his work with “Born Perfect” to end conversion therapy. NCLR launched “Born Perfect” in 2014 to protect LGBTQ children and young people by fighting in courtrooms to ensure their safety and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by these dangerous practices. Their efforts have led to banning conversion therapy in 20 states and over 70 municipalities in the United States. For over 20 years NCLR has been working to protect LGBTQ youth from these horrific practices by working with legislators and LGBTQ leaders in dozens of states to help bring similar protections to the rest of the country. They believe that every LGBTQ child is born perfect and that any young person’s identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender should be honored, celebrated and supported. “Born Perfect” is also led by Mathew Shurka, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist who is a survivor of conversion therapy when at 16 years old his father took him to a licensed therapist who claimed he could make gay people straight. It was the start of years of cruel and damaging “therapy” that left Mathew estranged from his family and his own identity. He then decided to take action posting his personal story on YouTube where it went viral. It was the start of his journey to forgive his father and therapist, reconcile with his family and lead a nationwide battle to end conversion therapy. We talked to Shannon about what he hopes to accomplish with “Born Perfect”, his reaction to the historic U. S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and his spin on our LGBTQ issues.

Shannon Minter is one of the nation’s leading advocates for LGBTQ people. Minter was lead counsel for the landmark California marriage equality case which held that gay and lesbian couples have the fundamental right to marry and that laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation are inherently discriminatory and subject to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny. Shannon was named a California Lawyer of the Year in 2009 by California Lawyer. He also received the Dan Bradley Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Bar Association for outstanding work in marriage cases and was the recipient of the Cornell Law School Exemplary Public Service Award in 2008. In the United States over 700,000 people have been through conversion therapy. Through “Born Perfect” Mathew Shurka and Minter are working with legislators and LGBTQ leaders to end these dangerous and stigmatizing practices everywhere. For Info: bornperfect.org For More Info: nclrights.org

LISTEN: 500+ LGBTQ Chats @OUTTAKE VOICES