It’s been amply demonstrated that attempting to turn LGBT kids straight doesn’t work. It’s also been demonstrated that this “therapy” is, by definition, incredibly abusive, and can actually cause lasting harm in the long run. Well, a number of parents still haven’t gotten the memo. Actor Jeremy Jordan–best known as Supergirl’s best friend, Winn Schott–found that out the hard way recently. His lesbian cousin has been packed off to a fundified boarding school bent on “curing” her of her homosexuality.
Jordan first alerted us to the situation on Twitter this past weekend.
My amazing friends & fans, PLEASE help us save my sweet gay cousin Sarah who's trapped at a boarding facility in TX. https://t.co/mtVHMY1fdI
— Jeremy Jordan (@JeremyMJordan) June 4, 2016
Jordan’s cousin, Sarah, wanted to go to her senior prom with her girlfriend. However, when her parents found out about it, they sent her to a Christian boarding school in East Texas. Sarah’s parents are hyperfundamentalist Christians who believe that homosexuality is a “disease” that can be “cured.” For the next year, Sarah will have to endure a regimen of forced labor and “therapy.” For all intents and purposes, she is cut off from all contact with the outside world. She is not allowed to have visitors, email, or Internet access.Believe it or not, Texas law allows parents to send their kids to such facilities until they turn 18.
This home sounds eerily similar to Escuela Caribe, an abusive Christian boarding school in the Dominican Republic. The now-shuttered school was profiled two years ago in “Kidnapped for Christ,” a documentary that originally started as a profile of troubled kids getting the help they needed. However, the film’s director, Kate Logan, soon realized there was a rank odor about the place, and turned her film into an exposé of the school.
To be sure, boarding schools in the States aren’t allowed to get away with nearly the kind of abuse that the kids at Escuela Caribe and other schools that set up shop offshore had to endure. But it’s only marginally better. It turns out that since 1997, homes for troubled teens are no longer required to be licensed if they have a religious orientation. As a result, a number of these homes have more or less free rein to engage in behavior that any fair-minded person would consider abusive, and in some cases outright criminal.
Jordan’s family has retained family law attorney and LGBT-issues expert Christine Henry Andresen to help free Sarah. They have started a GoFundMe campaign to help fund their legal expenses, which have already ramped up to $20,000. A full hearing is due in July. As Jordan sees it, this isn’t just about his cousin. This is about other gay kids who are forced to endure abusive “therapy” in the name of “curing” them.
As of Wednesday night, the campaign has raised almost $48,000–just under half of the goal of $100,000. Click here to donate.
Featured image courtesy Save Sarah GoFundMe page
