Conversion practices made me feel powerless - Anaya's story
Conversion practices include any medical, psychiatric, psychological, religious, cultural or any other interventions that seek to change, ‘cure’, or suppress the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of a person.
Anaya went through these harmful practices, now she is sharing her story:
I’m a bisexual woman of colour from a Sikh background and in my 20s I went through conversion practices.
When I was at university, I started developing feelings for a woman and realised I was bi. My coming out journey was really difficult - I was terrified of how my community might react. Eventually, I found the courage to come out and share how I was feeling. But when I did, my family intervened. They took me to ‘spiritual healers’, and that’s when the conversion practices began.
One of the people I was made to see was a faith healer who claimed to be a doctor, but he wasn’t. Immediately, he questioned me about my relationship status and blamed the woman I liked for ‘changing’ me. I was told to wear certain colours on certain days and take part in rituals which I was told would ‘cure’ me, it was all very controlling.
At no point was there any validation of my feelings for the woman, the message was that she was the problem, and I needed to stay away from her – this completely ruined the relationship.
I felt powerless, confused and scared and had no choice but to leave university and defer my place. I suffered a mental health breakdown when I got back home and was sectioned – it was awful.
Although I am doing much better now, this experience made it really hard for me to accept my sexuality, it has taken me many years to completely come out. Later on in my life I fell for another woman and this triggered me - I was scared that what I had been through was going to happen again.
Now, I am brave and have found my voice, I’m passionate about sharing my story to help end these harmful practices. The support and comfort I’ve found in the LGBTQ+ community has been incredible.
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