Out teen Jacob Rudolph on Monday
testified in support of a New Jersey bill which seeks to ban therapies
that attempt to alter a minor's sexual orientation from gay to
straight.
The New Jersey Senate Health, Human
Services and Senior Citizens Committee approved Democratic
Assemblyman Tim Eustace's bill after a tense 3-hour hearing.
(Related: Bill
to ban 'ex-gay' therapy in New Jersey advances.)
Rudolph, who in accepting an award for
“Class Actor” in front of 300 of his fellow classmates announced
that he's LGBT, was among those urging the panel to approve the bill.
(Related: Out
teen Jacob Rudolph meets idol George Takei on Anderson Cooper's
show.)
“Like every other LGBT person, I am
not broken, I am not confused, and I do not need to be fixed,”
Rudolph
testified. “I did not choose my sexual orientation, but what I
did choose was to pretend to be somebody that I was not. I came to
terms with myself that I was bisexual when I was in the 9th grade,
but I was truly afraid to share with anyone else who I really was.
High school is challenging enough for teens who are straight, but it
is even more challenging for LGBT teens, because they have to risk
alienating their friends, being subjected to taunts and physical
violence, and having their families reject them.”
“The video of my [coming out] speech
was posted online and has since received nearly 2 million hits. Of
all the responses I have received, however, the ones that meant the
most to me were those that were sent by five teenagers from various
locations across the United States. Each of those five teenagers had
something in common: They had made preparations to commit suicide
before watching my video, yet after watching my video they all
decided against it. Some of these teens had been rejected by their
families, who'd believed they had chosen to be gay, and these
families refused to accept them for who they are.”
“It is beyond baffling to me that
anyone might actually believe that sexual orientation is a 'lifestyle
choice' that can be altered if desired. Even more disturbing,
however, is that there are organizations whose sole mission is to
'cure' LGBT individuals of their orientation through the truculent
practices that have been deemed dangerously harmful and ineffective
by the American Psychological Association and other meritable
groups.”