The Alana Faith Chen Foundation, Born Perfect a program of NCLR & Out Boulder County are presenting a special event on Sunday April 24th to honor the life of Alana Chen who died by suicide after suffering years of conversion therapy. In 2019 a limited ban on conversion therapy took effect in Colorado but the ban only applies to youth under the age of 18 & does not include pastoral counseling leaving LGBTQ people vulnerable to this practice that can be deadly as it was for Alana Faith Chen. Mardi Moore, Executive Director of Out Boulder County stated, “Conversion therapy does not change who LGBTQ people are or who they love. It tries to teach LGBTQ people to be ashamed of those things. It is a deadly practice & especially deadly for LGBTQ youth. This idea for this program came from Joyce Calvo, Alana Faith Chen’s mother. Joyce asked Out Boulder County to help her protect other people from experiencing what her daughter did.” The event will begin at Out Boulder County’s office at 3340 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, Colorado at 3P with an opening reception followed by a panel that will be facilitated by Nicole Garcia, Faith Leader & Out Boulder County Board member & will feature Joyce Calvo, Jessica Ritter, Mathew Shurka & Christopher Dowling. Then at 5P there will be a vigil outside of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center at 1520 Euclid Avenue in Boulder.
Conversion Therapy continues to be a life threatening practice for LGBTQ people in Colorado.
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