Shaun Thomason

Senior Project
Conversion Therapy
 A. SUMMARY

I have chosen to do my project on the inequalities and discrimination

facing the LGBT community, focusing on the issue of conversion therapy both in the United

States and abroad.Conversion therapy has been proven to cause physical and psychological

damage to those who receive it, yet it remains legal in many states. As long as conversion

therapy remains legal, the ideas the practice represent will remain in place, making true equality

for the LGBT community nearly impossible.

In order to guide my research, I will be focusing on the following questions:

● What groups are currently practicing conversion therapy, and why?

● What kind of damage does undergoing conversion therapy have on the human mind and

body?

● How has conversion therapy evolved throughout history, especially in reference to other

LGBT issues?

● What laws exist on conversion therapy, what laws are being introduced, and what is the

best way to go about making a law that will ban conversion therapy?

● What groups are currently fighting to change legislation to ban conversion therapy?

For my project, I plan on holding an open mike night for people in the LGBT community

to share their experiences, with the help of my sponsor Ms. Nicole Degrouchy. LGBT people

face serious problems in everyday life, judgment, ostracism, etc. and an open mike night such as
this will give queer students from all over the city a chance to speak up about their experiences,

what being LGBT means to them, or anything of that nature. I don’t plan on having any sort of

screening process, as I was the event to be as organic, and as inclusive, as possible. Not only will

this serve as an excellent chance for LGBT students to speak up, and use their voices, but it will

also be an educational event, as I plan on having pamphlets outlining the main issue of my senior

project topic, conversion therapy, as well as pamphlets with information about the LGBT center,

PFLAG, and any other relevant information that a young queer person may need. In order for

participants to feel safe, I will most likely hold this open mike night at a small local coffee house

or restaurant. Ocean eddies is a really excellent venue for a night such as this, but any small,

cozy, personal type space will work for what I hope to accomplish. Also, as there is current

legislation sitting in Congress right now about the banning of conversion therapy called the

therapeutic fraud prevention act of 2017, I plan on having people who come to the open mike

night sign a petition in support, and plan to send to lawmakers on the committee, so they know

that there are people who oppose the practice of conversion therapy, and are willing to support

legislation to end it. My goal for this project is to impact as many people in the community as I

can and to provide them a safe place to share their experiences. If I do that, then I will consider

my project a success. In order to gain this information, I will most likely use a survey.

B. NEW SKILLS, AREAS OF GROWTH

New Skills

● Event Planning

● Petition making

● Large scale communication

Enhanced Skills

● Public Speaking

● Research

● Organization

● Professional interviews

Areas Of Growth

● Procrastination

● Dedication to an idea

● Realistic thinking

C. MARKETING PLAN/FACILITIES/AUDIENCE

For my project, I will use a small restaurant or coffee house, such as Ocean Eddies. I

mention Ocean Eddies specifically because I am aware of the fact that Ocean Eddies is very open

mike night friendly. I plan on advertising through a number of different avenues. My plan is to

create fliers and travel to the different GSA’s located throughout the city at different high

schools to get as many people involved as possible. I also plan on advertising on social media,

perhaps even creating a separate website or account for the project. The matter of my audience is

fairly straightforward. My main audience is queer students in the city, as I want them to be able

to not only share their personal experiences but also be able to hear the experiences of others

who are similar to them. The issue being discussed at my project is LGBT rights and the life

experiences of LGBT youth in the city.

D. PROJECT STEPS

Preliminary Steps Secure the venue. Create 6 hours

Advertisements. Draft and
Send emails. Research.
Create a petition. Gather
informational pamphlets.

First Steps Confirm and visit the venue. 5 hours

Release advertisements and
visit GSAs in VB. Continue
collecting project materials.

Second Steps Ensure that all project 7 hours

materials are accounted for.
Gather food and drink for the
event. Check that venue is
prepped with a chair, mike,
and other equipment needed
to make the night go
smoothly. Finalize petition
and pamphlets.

Follow Up Surveys, thank you notes, 4 hours

clean up, send a petition.

Total 22 hours

E. PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

● Fliers about the event

● Screenshots of any posts on social media of the event

● Copy of the signed petition

● Photos from the event

● Email and phone call logs for setting up the event

● Receipts of purchases
 ● Copy of entrants writing pieces

● Copies of pamphlets distributed the night of the event

F. PROJECT JUSTIFICATION

This project will be beneficial because it will allow queer students from all over the city

to have a voice that they may not have had before. LGBT students often have a limited number

of safe spaces they can go to share what they are feeling, and how being queer impacts their

lives, the decisions they have to make, and the trails they must go through. It is this place of

sharing that I am hoping to be able to offer with an open mike night. This project would not only

aim to help the LGBT youth of our city, but also pushes me out of my comfort zone, and forces

me to do things I have not done in the past. Not only will this project required me to develop

legitimate event planning skills, but it will also force me to become more involved in the queer

community..

G. PROJECT-PAPER CONNECTION

My paper will focus significantly on the negative social stigma that is continually

perpetuated by conversion therapy, and how that impacts members of the LGBT community,

especially LGBT youth. Conversion therapy is a major issue that impacts much of the

community and has more underlying issues and impacts, which is what the project is going to

focus on. While my paper will answer my driving questions, being very specific to conversion

therapy and the impacts that it has on the queer community, the project will be more broad,
encompassing more issues than just conversion therapy, supplementing any information about

discrimination faced by the LGBT community not mentioned in the paper. This open mike night

also allows for a more sophisticated view of how conversion therapy perpetuates negative social

stigma, as many are likely to mention family, friends, etc. have stated some of the underlying

thought that are most closely related to conversion therapy.