Helpful Resources
Here is a list of amazing and well respected LGBTQ+ affirming and conversion therapy survivor resources
This entire list represents organizations that I would support 100%. Please do your due diligence in researching them, but I (personally) would not hesitate to contact them as they are very loving and life-giving.
Also, this blog sees visitors from the Pray Away film streaming globally on Netflix, if you are welcome! You may be looking for specific film resources, so here is a quick list.
Orlando Resources
Zebra Coalition® is a network of organizations that provide services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all youth (LGBTQ+) ages 13 – 24.
The Coalition assists young people facing homelessness, bullying, isolation from their families, and physical, sexual, and drug abuse with individualized programs to guide them to recovery and stability.
Joy MCC is the spiritual home to a multi-cultural, inclusive, and diverse faith community. We are rooted in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. We experience a vibrant spirituality that is positive, practical, and progressive.
One Orlando Alliance is a vital support network for LGBTQ+ organizations in Central Florida. We lower barriers, provide critical communication, and promote effective, influential, and sustainable opportunities for transforming the region's culture. We understand that transformative change in attitudes and behaviors begins with an unwavering commitment to bettering the welfare of all. We will achieve this by fostering a deep respect for one another and ensuring inclusiveness within our diverse population.
The mission of The LGBT+ Center Orlando, Inc. is to promote and empower the LGBT Community and its allies through information, education, advocacy, and support. We have locations in downtown Orlando and Kissimmee.
Hotlines
Trevor Lifeline is a crisis intervention and suicide prevention phone service available 24/7/365 through the Trevor Project. If you or someone you love is seeking help, please call 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 678678.
Trans Lifeline is a trans-led organization that connects trans people to the community, support, and resources they need to survive and thrive. Available 7am-1am PST / 9am-3am CST / 10am-4am EST. Call 877-565-8860.
Advocacy
Tyler Clementi Foundation exists to honor Tyler Clementi by sharing his story to help raise awareness around the issues that impacted Tyler and led to his death. The Tyler Clementi Foundation seeks to find actions and solutions to those issues based on research because we wanted to ensure that no one else ever suffered the same pain, shame, and humiliation that Tyler experienced.
Born Perfect: The Campaign to End Conversion Therapy is a campaign of the National Center for Lesbian Rights focused on passing laws across the country to protect LGBT children and young people from the harm of sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts. Born Perfect drafts, introduces, and passes legislation, spreads awareness through public education, media, and advocacy, and empowers conversion therapy survivors and their families. You can sign up here if you’d like to get involved or share your story.
Trevor Project provides 24/7 life-saving support via phone, text, and chat, a safe space social networking site for LGBTQ youth, and creates and runs research, education, and advocacy programs. In an effort to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy in every state of the nation and country around the world, the Trevor Project has launched 50 Bills 50 States.
Truth Wins Out is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization that educates the world on the harm caused by destructive “ex-gay” conversion programs while fighting to eliminate anti-LGBTQ prejudice and discrimination. We believe that genuine freedom and contentment derive from authenticity and living one’s truth. Also, check out Wayne Besen’s (who runs TWO) new book Lies With a Straight Face if you need more than enough proof not to engage in the toxic world of ex-gay conversion ministry.
PFLAG is the first and largest organization for LGBTQ+ people, their parents, families, and allies. You can find PFLAG's webinars and their free training toolkit to assist people looking to take action in the effort to protect LGBTQ people from conversion therapy in all its forms here.
Free Mom Hugs has chapters in all 50 states and other initiatives forming globally. The group’s growing force of more than 14,000 volunteers is a national groundswell dedicated to empowering the world to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community through visibility, conversation and education
GLAAD is a non-profit media organization that works through entertainment, news, and digital platforms to share stories from the LGBTQ community that accelerate acceptance and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.
MAP's mission is to provide independent and rigorous research, insight, and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all. Their website includes up-to-date Equality Maps, which include a state-by-state assessment of the current status of conversion therapy bans across the U.S.
I am also very honored to participate in For They Know Not What They Do, exposing the myth of conversion therapy and amazing trans and Pulse survivor'’ stories.
LGBTQ Faith Organizations
Canyonwalker Connections: here, faith and scholarship intersect exists to repair the division that exists between social and Christian conservatives and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community through education, training, and dialogue in both secular and religious environments.
The National LGBTQ Task Force’s Institute for Welcoming resources is an ecumenical group that aims to provide resources to facilitate a paradigm shift in multiple denominations whereby churches become welcoming and affirming of all congregants regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Q Christian Fellowship is an ecumenical Christian ministry that serves lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer, and straight ally Christians. QCF seeks to cultivate radical belonging among LGBTQ+ people and allies through a commitment to growth, community, and relational justice. In keeping with its mission, QCF has launched the UNCHANGED campaign as an affirmative counter to the damage wrought in the name of God through ex-gay theologies and conversion therapy. You can read the stories, submit your own, or join the community here. Additionally, QCF has partnered with The Trevor Project to launch The Good Fruit Project, a comprehensive educational resource that presents faith and researched-based cases against LGBTQ+ change efforts.
Transmission Ministry Collective is an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-expansive Christians. If you need support or a virtual community, you will find that through TMC’s text-based chat servers, video-based support groups, and online Bible studies.
The Reformation Project is a Bible-based Christian organization that promotes the inclusion of LGBTQ people by reforming church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity through national conferences, local chapters, and digital resources.
Support for Conversion Therapy Survivors
The Naming Project is a Christian ministry serving the youth of all sexual and gender identities. They provide a safe place for youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, or allied to learn, grow, and share their experiences. The Naming Project is a space where youth can comfortably discuss faith, who they understand themselves to be, and how they relate to God and the rest of the world.
Conversion Therapy Survivors is an online group of people who have experienced reparative therapy, 'ex-gay' ministries, sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), aversion therapy, and other methods to understand or change our sexual orientation or gender identity. CTS exists to affirm our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer identity as psychologically, spiritually, and relationally whole.
Beyond Ex-Gay is an affirming online community and resource for those of us who have survived ex-gay experiences.