Out singer-actor Troye Sivan recently
discussed the impact that working on the “ex-gay” drama Boy
Erased had on him.
Based on Garrard Conley's 2016 book Boy
Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith and Family, Boy
Erased stars Lucas Hedges as Jared, a college student who is sent
to an “ex-gay” camp after he is outed to his conservative
parents, played in the film by Nicole Kidman and Russell Crow.
(Related: Garrard
Conley: You don't have to be in conversion therapy to be in
conversion therapy.)
Speaking with the Daily Mail
Australia at the National Gallery of Victoria's annual gala, the
23-year-old Sivan said that working on the film motivated him to keep
“pushing for change,” a reference to laws that prohibit therapies
that attempt to alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of
LGBT youth.
“I was so lucky to experience that
story through the safety of a film set and the fact that it's all
pretend,” Sivan
said. “But for so many people that's not the case and so it
really motivated me so much to keep pushing to make change.”
Sivan is involved with The Trevor
Project's 50 Bills in 50 States initiative, which seeks to expand
such laws across the United States.
“[In] 36 states across the U.S. it's
still completely legal to send your kid off to conversion therapy and
it's been proven to be so dangerous, hurtful and obviously
ineffective,” Sivan said during an appearance on The Tonight
Show. “So, we're trying to get 50 bills in 50 states to
prevent youth from going through conversion therapy.”