Joseph Fons holding a Pride Flag in front of the Supreme Court on June 15, 2020. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Matt Salmon remembers getting into a circle with the other teenagers in his group therapy session and shouting obscenities at a gay boy forced to stand in the middle.
And he recalls being made to sit on the floor and hug other men because, his therapist said, his sexuality was driven by a “void” that needed to be filled with “healthy male intimacy.”
Nearly 20 years later, Salmon is still shaken by his late teenage experience with “ conversion therapy ,” the discredited practice that purports to “convert” gay people to heterosexuality and is the focus of a blockbuster appeal to be argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
“I remember watching these boys as they’re essenti