On March 31st, 2022, my group had the pleasure of interviewing Logan Casey (he/him.) He is a trans and queer man that is the senior policy researcher and advisor at an organization called MAP. One thing that Logan does is overlook the equality maps that MAP produces such as this one that shows the progress of conversion therapy laws in the U.S.: https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy

Logan told us that lgbtq+ discrimination and the laws against it vary greatly from place to place. It is difficult for the federal government to to pass laws against conversion therapy, so it is often done at a state or council level leading to different restrictions in different places. Some places have no restrictions at all which makes it very common, despite popular belief. Many people think that conversion therapy is a thing that used to happen when in reality it is still all too common today. In the U.S. only, an approximated 698,000 queer adults have gone through some form of conversion therapy in their life

Overall it was amazing to talk to Logan and we learned so much from him. Homophobia and transphobia are such big issues today and it’s so important that as many people as possible are educated on these issues. We are very excited that we got this opportunity to learn about this so that we can spread the word to other people.

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On February 18th, me and several other classmates had the pleasure of going to the Paley Center for Media for a workshop on several issues related to women in media. Rebecca, the person who led this, brought us to a theater where we had a chance to discuss body image in our own lives. We were prompted with questions such as “what has the greatest affect on your body image?” and we had a conversation on different aspects of it.

After this we watched a compilation of clips taken from movies, commercials and music videos through out several decades. Most of the videos were ones that we were familiar with such as the music video of Britney Spears’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time” or the theme of the power puff girls. We then had a conversation about the similarities and differences between the videos and the effects they’ve had on us. We discussed the extreme sexualization of teen girls and the standards that has put on us. We also talked about misogyny and toxic masculinity and how it affects our everyday lives.

Overall this workshop was really educational. I really enjoyed how they included aspects of things we are really familiar with as 13 and 14 year olds, and guided us into more complicated conversations about women in media and the effects it has on us. Not only this but it was a really fun experience to go with a group of my classmates and have discussions that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

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On Thursday, November 3rd, my fellow group mate Ayelet and I interviewed a director and producer of many original documentaries, Dan Karslake. He has directed and produced the more well known documentaries “For The Bible Tells Me So” and “For They Know Not What They Do.” The interview consisted of us bringing up questions mostly related to religious based homophobia. Ayelet and I both know that some, if not most, conversion therapy sites are religiously motivated and come from the ideology that god hates homosexuals, and that people need to “correct” themselves to be worthy in God’s presence once again.

One question that we conducted which I found interesting was “What are some ways you’ve seen people helping to stop more people from getting hurt by conversion therapy?” Karslake proceeded to refer to the people he interviewed in 2003-2007 for “For The Bible Tells Me So.” He said that “all the people who participated in the interviews could be seen as activists.” He recalled examples of past interviewees who have gone far in their lives and careers since the release of the documentary. An example was a trans woman who had been part of the 2019 documentary “For They Know Not What They Do.” Now, she is in one of the highest powers of government that a trans person has ever been in. I thought it was amazing how even all these years later, Karslake still remembers these people. I am extremely grateful that we got to meet with this amazing man and learn so many things from him.

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On Thursday morning, February 3rd our group had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Karslkae. He is a director and producer of several documentaries, some of which relate to our topic of lgbtq+ conversion therapy such as The Bible Tells Me So (2007), and For They Know Not What They Do (2019). In his films, he interviews many people about their views and we get a look into their lives. He has spread people’s words on a very wide platform and so many are able to learn so much from him.

Daniel told us about how he started his career as a child actor, before transitioning into filmmaking after graduating from Duke University. Once he finished film school, he worked at PDS (public broadcasting service) on a show called In The Life, which was about LGBT+ people and issues they face. He says that he focused a lot on the religious aspect because he feels that’s what is at the root of most homophobia and transphobia. He left this job to start working on his first film.

It was amazing to listen to Daniel and for him to share so much with us. We learned so much about why homophobia and transphobia are such a big problem today, while also hearing about his experiences working with people with such a wide variety of opinions and views. My group and I are now even more encouraged to educate ourselves and others about our topic.

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On Thursday, I presented with my social justice group, about our topic. We had read a few articles on the issue of conversion therapy and it’s affects on queer youth. Our presentation had a bumpy start with technical issues and not knowing how loud or close to the mic to talk. Here is my personal reaction from my presentation:
The fact that these things are still happening and are still legal in so many places is absolutely disgusting. Knowing that lgbtq+ people everywhere are treated so inhumanely and the government justifies it because they are queer. As somebody who is part of the community and has a lot of people who are close to me who are as well, it’s really scary knowing what happens.

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