The Brief
Illinois outlawed conversion therapy for minors in 2015, treating false promises of a "cure" as consumer fraud and allowing survivors to sue providers.
Jody, who was forced into conversion therapy as a teen in Kentucky, described lasting trauma, including nightmares, fear of touch and struggles with trust.
While 23 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico restrict the practice, rollbacks in states like Kentucky and a pending Supreme Court challenge threaten existing protections.
ILLINOIS - Hundreds of thousands of children across the country have been told to change who they are, often through conversion therapy.
Illinois banned the practice for minors a decade ago, but decisions in other states have raised fears for those still haunted by their experiences.
What we know
As a teenager in the South, Jody’s family forced them into conversion therapy.
"There was no conversation. I remember I got in a black van," Jody said. "They placed a potato sack over your head and you didn't know where you were going and it was the longest hour and 45-minute drive of my entire life."
Conversion therapy is a practice some still claim can change sexual orientation or gender identity.
"No matter how many times you screamed, you had no voice. You were nothing to them," Jody said.
That was in Kentucky when Jody was 16. Now, at 29, Jody lives in Illinois, a state that says what happened to them won’t be allowed here.
Illinois banned conversion therapy in 2015, and the law took effect the following year. It treats promises of "a cure" as consumer fraud.
"We have tools here to get recourse for you if you need it," said State Rep. Kelly Cassidy. "You're not alone and you never will be here."
In Springfield, Cassidy led the push. The law gives survivors the power to take providers to court, but Dr. Braden Berkey said the experience still holds deep power over survivors.
"Often depressed, suicidal, substance-using, they would have problems forming relationships and maintaining relationships," Berkey said.
Those struggles with trust take Jody back to 2012, when they said they were shocked with electric currents, scalded with hot water, shamed and silenced.
"I still have nightmares to this day of being sexually assaulted, of being beaten with my partner til this day there's like certain things. Like, like certain touches, whether it's like holding my hand or just brushing up against me, that he cannot do because just the fear of well, it could happen all over again," Jody said.
Scott Bertani with the National Coalition of LGBTQ Health said 23 states, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, restrict conversion therapy for minors. But Jody’s home state of Kentucky rolled back protections — part of a broader shift that could soon reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Folks were like, I don't really see the need. I think we've moved on from that or I don't think that's ever going to be a problem again, right? And here we are back at it's a problem again," said Cassidy.
"No matter how many times you pray, no matter how many times you cry out and stuff, you're not going to be healed fully enough. Like, you just have to move on in life, know that it wasn't your fault," Jody said.
Owning that truth, Jody said, turned survival into purpose — advice they now share with others.
"Don't change who you are and if I could go back and look at myself in the mirror, I would have came out sooner and I would have been more louder and more prouder," Jody said.
What's next
Illinois was the first state to enact such a ban, but advocacy groups like the Trevor Project say enforcement has fallen short.
Legal analysts warn a Supreme Court challenge to Colorado’s ban could threaten protections in other states. Mental health experts say the case is yet another reminder to survivors that their trauma is not fully behind them.
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