When the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill was moved through parliament before being passed into law in early 2022, it was the most highly contested bill in New Zealand’s history. For filmmaker Loren Prendiville, the political process exposed a society in which homophobia is still thriving, and was the impetus for exploring the history of conversion therapy in Aotearoa.

“Because conversion therapy happens behind closed doors, I assumed unless you knew someone who’d been through it, it probably wasn’t on your radar,” says Prendiville — though she wasn’t surprised that a law change that would be life-altering for only a small community could be so controversial. “I was really interested in that contrast. I wanted to understand how a person’s right to exist as their authentic self could stir such fierce debate.”

To do so, Prendiville interviewed survivors of conversion therapy, bringing their experience of its harm to light. “Being queer, that came with its own set of personal challenges. I felt such a sense of responsibility to do justice to the survivor stories I was entrusted with — even more so against the backdrop of public submissions that were making it very clear that conversion practices and the ideologies behind them were still very much alive in Aotearoa.”

Prendiville’s proud that the film leaves the door open for conversations that will enable society to move forward together. “We all have a role to play in conversations about queer rights. Things like conversion therapy exist as a symptom of the belief that queer people are somehow broken.

The more kōrero we have in families, schools, churches and the streets about how our diversity should be celebrated and valued, the closer we might get to a society where queer people feel safe to exist as their true selves.”

Words: Phoebe Watt
Photography: Guy Coombes