I don't really like talking about this stuff but for what it's worth, here's a quick thread about my experiences with conversion therapy as a kid [1/n]

I grew up in a very religious community that was varying levels of homophobic, from "all gays are depraved reprobates" to "love the sinner, hate the sin," and I learned very quickly that my orientation as a bisexual boy was definitely, definitely not okay. [2/n]

Luckily, I never went through any specific conversion therapy program. But I researched many of them and spent *hundreds of hours* reading CT material and trying to integrate it into my own life. I basically attempted do-it-yourself CT for at least a year, around 14. [3/n]

It didn't work, of course. But if that conversion therapy *had* worked and I *had* been able to wish myself straight, I would have experienced every single positive outcome that pro-trans people nowadays bring up as an example of why childhood transition is so important. [4/n]

At that time, my same-sex desire was immensely distressing to me and that distress manifested in exactly the same ways gender dysphoria manifests in children. And whenever I was momentarily convinced I had finally made myself straight, I experienced the exact same euphoria. [5/n]

So that's what I find so infuriating about the people who dismiss comparisons between childhood transition and conversion therapy - they act as though the problem is simply that CT doesn't work while transition does. That's not the point! [6/n]

Similarly, the fact that transition "works" (to the degree that it does) is also not the point! Of course you can make a child much happier by resolving tension between personality and gender expectations. You could have made me much happier by praying away the gay, too. [7/n]

But that doesn't make it responsible, or healthy, or moral to do so - and those who argue that the only possible way to evaluate the concept of childhood transition is individual "success stories" are throwing any deeper analysis of gender and trauma out the window. [8/n]

Simply put, even if conversion therapy *did* "work," it would still be a homophobic, violent, and hateful practice. And that's true even though I am 100% sure that, as a teen, being able to actually alter my sexuality would have improved my mental health immensely. [9/n]

These trans activists really need to drop the homophobic and cruel implication that conversion therapy is wrong only because it doesn't work or people don't want it. In a world where CT was effective and freely chosen, *it would still be an atrocity.* [10/n]

So whenever I hear stories about a child who does so much better after transition, I just think back to the confidence and joy and peace *I* felt as a youth, convinced that I was finally straight. It's not necessarily a good thing, guys. It might be a fucking tragedy. [11/n]