{"id":155956,"date":"2026-03-07T02:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T02:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155956\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T02:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T02:55:11","slug":"conversion-therapy-survivor-runs-for-congress-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155956\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversion therapy survivor runs for Congress in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mathew Shurka<\/a> says it\u2019s time for a conversion therapy<\/a> survivor to serve in Congress. Shurka is the cofounder of the anti-conversion therapy project Born Perfect.<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ<\/a>+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate’s email newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 37-year-old gay activist is running for the Democratic<\/a> nomination in New York\u2019s<\/a> 12th Congressional District, the Manhattan seat long held by LGBTQ+<\/a> ally Jerry Nadler.<\/p>\n

Nadler, who has held the seat since 1993, is retiring, opening up the race in the largely Democratic district that covers much of Manhattan, including the gayborhoods of Chelsea and Hell\u2019s Kitchen. It\u2019s the most heavily LGBTQ+ congressional district in the nation, Shurka says.<\/p>\n

Related: Can’t Be Converted: Trauma as Therapy in Virginia<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Beyond Boy Erased: The Resilience of Conversion Therapy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw myself as a politician,\u201d he says. That changed through his work with Born Perfect and when Nadler announced his retirement.<\/p>\n

Building a national campaign against conversion therapy<\/p>\n

Shurka founded Born Perfect in 2014 with the National Center for Lesbian Rights<\/a> (now the National Center for LGBTQ Rights). Born Perfect aims to end conversion therapy \u2014 a discredited and harmful practice that seeks to change a person\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity \u2014 across the nation through legislation, court action, and raising awareness.<\/p>\n

\"mathew Shurka for Congress<\/a><\/p>\n

During his time with Born Perfect, which he left last year, he traveled to every state in the nation and helped pass laws, executive orders, or regulations to protect young people from conversion therapy in 27 states and more than 120 municipalities. He saw the differences in various states, which he says would be an asset to him as a member of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s geography differences,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s cultural differences. I always like to say a Democrat in Hawaii is not the same as a Democrat in New Hampshire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Shurka decided to run after Nadler\u2019s retirement<\/p>\n

When Nadler announced in September that he would not seek another term, \u201cIt was like, wow,\u201d Shurka says. He and his fianc\u00e9, restaurateur Lisle Richards, gave the matter some thought. They concluded that Shurka running for Congress would be a way to translate his skills and experience into elected office. Shurka was also influenced by the widespread disappointment with the state of politics overall, including disappointment with the Democratic Party. He felt he could make change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in Congress because I\u2019ve introduced two bills with members of Congress,\u201d he notes. What\u2019s more, Congress members are there to network and build a cohort, which is what he did with Born Perfect. \u201cIt felt like the perfect next step for me,\u201d he says. He officially launched his campaign the week before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

\"mathew Shurka for Congress<\/a><\/p>\n

He made the decision to run before another gay candidate, Erik Bottcher, withdrew from the race. Bottcher filed documents for his candidacy in September, then withdrew in December to run in a special election for the state Senate, which he won.<\/a> Bottcher is a former New York City Council member.<\/p>\n

Shurka is a native New Yorker,<\/a> sixth-generation on his mother\u2019s side, first-generation on his father\u2019s side. His father\u2019s family, Persian Jews, left Iran for Israel after the Jewish state was founded in 1948, and his father came to the U.S. in his early 20s, rising from driving a taxi to having a career in commercial real estate.<\/p>\n

Surviving five years of conversion therapy<\/p>\n

Shurka\u2019s experience with conversion therapy lasted five years, from age 16 to 21. He was beaten by a fellow student in high school, not for being gay but because he had stood up to the attacker about another matter; the assailant didn\u2019t know Shurka, then closeted, was gay. He was injured so severely that he had to be hospitalized and almost died. However, the attack led Shurka, who had been in denial about his sexuality, to come out to himself and to his family. \u201cMy father was incredible, told me that he loved me no matter what,\u201d Shurka recalls. \u201cBut the next day he started to do his research.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father met a therapist who said being gay could be cured. So Mathew went to several counselors, mostly for one-on-one treatment, and they were all licensed medical or mental health professionals, not ministers or rabbis, although there was religious influence, he says. They told him his homosexuality was caused by having a distant father and an overbearing mother, a typical \u2014 and stereotypical \u2014 explanation at the time.<\/p>\n

As part of his therapy, he wasn\u2019t allowed to speak to his mother or his two sisters for three years. One of his sisters was living in the family home, and the other was on her own but nearby; Mathew is the youngest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wake up in the morning,\u201d he remembers. \u201cMy mom would make me breakfast. I’d head downstairs in our home, eat breakfast, and walk out the door and never say a word to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[The therapists\u2019] instruction was based on the fact that, one, they didn\u2019t want me to learn a feminine behavior, and, two, if I understood that women were distant and the opposite sex and understood that men were are supposed to be my peers, my sexual orientation would correct itself because they believe that everyone is innately heterosexual,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told every day that if I didn\u2019t try hard enough or try harder in becoming straight, suicide would have been a better would be a better option for me,\u201d Shurka adds. \u201cThat\u2019s how bad life is as an out gay man. That\u2019s the language my therapist would use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaving conversion therapy and becoming an activist<\/p>\n

He started to make more male friends, and women showed interest in him, so on a surface level, it felt like the therapy was effective. One therapist even prescribed Viagra because it would supposedly help him have sex with a woman. But deep down, he knew conversion therapy wasn\u2019t working, and his attraction to men only became stronger. Eventually, he had panic attacks and thought about taking his life, although he never attempted suicide.<\/p>\n

He left conversion therapy at 21, started working as a waiter at a restaurant in lower Manhattan, and began developing pride in his identity. Three years later, at age 24 in 2012, he created a video about his experience for the It Gets Better Project,<\/a> and it went viral, starting his activism against conversion therapy and leading to his work with NCLR. He went on to reconcile with his parents after years of estrangement.<\/p>\n

Policy priorities: conversion therapy, the Equality Act, and affordability<\/p>\n

To the best of his knowledge, he would be the first conversion therapy survivor in Congress, he says. If he is elected, LGBTQ+ issues will definitely be one of his priorities. \u201cI, of course, want to push a conversion therapy ban,\u201d he says. \u201cI did introduce legislation with [U.S. Rep.] Ted Lieu<\/a> on that, and it never passed. It gets reintroduced every year. And the Equality Act<\/a> is very important to me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

So is addressing the affordability crisis, which is affecting the 12th District intensely, he notes, and standing up to Donald Trump.<\/a> \u201cSo many people are worried that the Democrats<\/a> are scared,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re not willing to really put their neck out in a way that would really, really stop Trump.\u201d For instance, he says, he was the only candidate in the 12th District race to urge Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> to hold back funding for the Department of Homeland Security<\/a> after the killings of Renee Nicole Good<\/a> and Alex Pretti<\/a> in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

A crowded Democratic primary in Manhattan<\/p>\n

Others seeking the Democratic nomination include Jack Schlossberg, the son of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg; George Conway, a former Republican turned Trump critic; New York State Assembly members Alex Bores and Micah Lasher; and many more. But Shurka says he feels good about his chances and what he can bring to Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a real sense of people wanting an outsider,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not the only outsider, but I\u2019m the outsider that has had the most legislative experience. To be able to be an outsider who\u2019s passed over 150 pieces of legislation all across the country and did it without ever being a politician really speaks to people, and people are moved by that.\u201d He has a history of working with people who may disagree with him on many matters, he says, such as the conservative Utah legislators who passed that state\u2019s conversion therapy ban.<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond legislative issues, Shurka says he is also concerned about the direction of the federal judiciary.<\/p>\n

Concerns about the Supreme Court and judicial reform<\/p>\n

If the Supreme Court strikes down Colorado\u2019s ban on conversion therapy, \u201cit\u2019s going to be a horrible moment,\u201d he says, as it could affect bans in other states as well. He was at the court when it heard oral arguments in October<\/a>. The high court has become extremely politicized, he says, and he supports reforming it by imposing an age cap on justices and possibly expanding the number of justices. He also would support term limits for members of Congress.<\/p>\n

The primary election will be on June 23. As of now, there are 12 other candidates in the Democratic primary and six in the Republican primary, plus three have filed to run as independents in the November 3 general election. Given the district\u2019s makeup, whoever wins the Democratic primary will be pretty much assured of election in November. New York does not have a runoff provision, so whoever gets a plurality of the vote will be the nominee.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Shurka says, \u201cI feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n