'Boy Erased' chronicles real-life impact of 'conversion therapy'

The Republican Platform ratified last month says that parents should be able to choose proper medical treatment and therapy for their children. That includes “conversion therapy” to cure their gay sons and daughters of their homosexuality. Garrard Conley is an example of the failure of that scientifically-debunked treatment. Conley grew up in rural Arkansas as a Mission Baptist. His mother and father were devout and encouraged their son to minister to others. Every soul counted, especially the lost ones. But Garrard himself felt increasingly lost, because he knew that he was gay. What happened next is the subject of Conley’s memoir, “Boy Erased,” and it chronicles his time in so-called ex-gay therapy, in an intensive program called “Love in Action.”