"Nothing to cure". The story of the conversion therapies suffered by lGBT+ Christians

Dialogue byKatya ParenteWith Elisa Belotti

The international scientific community has for years now, excluding homosexuality (and more generally the queerness) from mental diseases. That of the Catholic Church differently that, while admitting that "a not negligible number of men and women has deeply rooted homosexual tendencies", he also says that it is something objectively disordered (see Catechism 2385). And It is precisely here that self -styled healers enter the field that promise To"remedy the inner wound " of LGBTQ people+ making them become heterosexual - which is also impossible and absolutely deleterious.

All this and much more concerning the notorious reparative therapies was faced by the journalist Elisa Belotti, whose graphic novel "Nothing to cure" it is available on number 10 of La Revue Dessinée Italy. Today is here with us for a short chat.

Why write about reparative therapies, and why did you choose to do it with a graphic novel?

By dealing with marginalized communities and faith, reparative therapies often recur between the phenomena spread over time and space. They have been and continue to be a dark chapter of LGBTQ+ history and therefore of our collective history, of the city of the world. Understanding them, narrating and contrasting them means contributing to dismantling the pathologization that still envelops the gaze with which public opinion observes the queerness. Although the WHO has removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses since 1990 (the APA in 1973) and has done the same with the trans identity in 2018, we still talk about queer people as sick, against nature, which could - if only they wanted enough - change. Ѐ Of this culture that convert therapies feed.

As for the form of "Nothing to cure", after writing "the Harassment" (the investigation Into the abuse of religious) for the n. 3 of La Revue Dessinée Italy, I proposed a new investigation to the magazine. I had already dealt with reparative therapies in the past, monitoring the European situation. For some time now I wanted a space in which to analyze this type of abuse and it seemed to me the perfect opportunity because the comic allows to preserve the complexity of the phenomenon and the experiences collected, making them get to those who read not only with words but also with images.

How was the collaboration with Nicolò Pellizzon Born?

The Revue Dessinée Italia, after selecting the investigations to be included between your pages, deals with combining journalist and cartoonist. So in reality it was their decision. Nicolò, in addition to having worked with great sensitivity to the adaptation of the stories that people have decided to share, has enriched everything with references to sacred art and apocalyptic tones. This made it possible to make the complexity and the drama of the investigation even better.

On the side of the graphic novel, lists of several other resources against reparative therapies. How important is it to know this reality and unmask it for the abuse that perpetuates?

Fundamental. With “Nothing to cure"It is clear how the phenomenon of conversion therapies is varied and widespread. From the structured path to the parish group, from the person of the church to/the therapist, there are numerous channels through which we or the people dear us can end up in it. So it becomes really important to learn to recognize reparative therapies, understand how they work, what they leverage. It is because the hatred towards LGBTQ+ people in our society is because Innerized homobitransphobia makes it vulnerable.

Paradoxically, reparative therapies not only fail in their intent to repair something that does not need to be repaired, but even are harmful. Those who experience them live symptoms close to PTSD, loss of self -esteem, depression, anxiety, social isolation to suicidal actions. Not to mention the fact that in 2016 the World Psychiatric Association said that there is no valid scientific evidence that allow you to affirm that sexual orientation can be changed. Conversion therapies, therefore, have no validity or benefit, quite the contrary.

For this reason, at the end of the comic, I invite those who read to sign the campaigns ofBetter in colorIsActIn favor of a "conversion therapy ban"(Prohibition of conversion therapies). To support together that there is nothing to take care of the identity of people.

You have always been interested in Queeness. Why?

Charlie Murphy, folk musician and activist of what was then called "gay movement", in 1979 he sang a song Entitled"Gay Spirit“. “When We Were Born, they tried to put us all in a cage / then tell our bodies What to feel / we had chosen to feel all the truth / That our bodiomen do reveal"(When we were born, they tried to put everyone in a Cage / and then tell our bodies what to Hear / had chosen to hear the whole Truth / that our bodies reveal). To recognize this truth - and therefore this multiplicity that climbs every rule - you have to know that it exists. I try to tell it through my work. As a journalist I deal with marginalized communities, people, experiences and perspectives that are dissidents compared to what constitutes the standard. Reality that question and question the rule and that, even first of this, deserve to be told for the simple fact that they exist.

What if our readers want to follow you?

As well as between the pages of the Revue, you can find me as a freelance journalist onTrue News, to run the podcastCristianə to whom?And very soon on Substack with a new newsletter:Without mills() and of course alsoon social media.

We thank Elisa, of whom we also report the page of campsite and the youTube channel, for his investigation that warns, if there was still a need, on the followers of Joseph Nicolosi & Co. We can only conclude by quoting Lady Gaga: "we're on the right track, baby, we were born this way"(we are on the right path, baby, we were born like this).