Tara, 29, Describes Life in the Shenango Valley as a Bisexual Woman #AMPLIFY

Mercer County Bisexual

“[After 9th grade concert] Once we got home, my tears had turned to anger. I ended up slamming every door I touched, kicked off my shoes so hard they hit the wall, and told my mom I hated her. She got in my face, and my dad stepped in. He sent my little brother to his room before I recalled what happened at the school. He sighed, but didn’t say anything. He was a man of few words. After a few minutes of me blubbering, trying to calm down, the three of us went to the kitchen table to talk.
I remember my dad sitting across from me and my mom sitting to my right at our tiny cramped kitchen table. I don’t remember the specifics of conversation, mostly because I blocked it out, but in a nutshell, they told me homosexuality was wrong and I was going to Hell if I continued liking girls. I fidgeted with a leftover napkin as I told them I loved Z. We were best friends. I said I was bisexual, not homosexual, hoping that might somehow make it better. It didn’t. I was still damned just the same.

In the weeks following my admission, my parents forced me to start counseling.”

Two Big Federal Wins for Marriage Equality

Thursday brought news of two significant rules that will have an immediate impact on LGBTQ families. First, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a ruling on Medicare: Gay married couples are now eligible for nursing home care through Medicare-funded private insurance in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision against the Defense of […]

PA State Senator Wants to Ban “Reparative Therapy” for Minors

PA State Senator Wants to Ban “Reparative Therapy” for Minors

This is welcome news. State Senator Anthony Williams plans to introduce legislation that will ban “conversion” or “reparative” therapy for minors. In 2009, the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation issued a report, concluding that sexual orientation change efforts can pose critical health risks to lesbian, gay, and bisexual […]

Reparative Therapy

Please read this powerful and heartwrenching Part I in a series about reparative therapy. Truth Wins Out This is something I have never thought about. One of the saddest parts of reparative therapy is the way it destroys relationships, because clients are falsely led to believe their parents caused their homosexuality. This unscientific and unfounded […]