About Born Perfect

About Mathew Shurka

Byline BIO: Mathew Shurka is cofounder and strategist for Born Perfect, a survivor-led national movement working with legal experts to pass legislation outlawing conversion therapy and end the harm it does to LGBTQ youth and their families. Learn more at www.bornperfect.org.

Broadcast BIO: So-called “conversion therapy” that promises to make gay people straight has been condemned by every major medical and mental health organization, yet it continues to happen in every state. With us today is Mathew Shurka, cofounder and strategist for Born Perfect. The survivor-led national movement is working to outlaw conversion therapy nationwide. Learn more at www.bornperfect.org. Welcome, Mathew. Born Perfect has led efforts banning conversion therapy in 20 states and almost 70 municipalities. What compelled you to lead this effort?

Full BIO: Mathew Shurka is cofounder and strategist for Born Perfect, a survivor-led national movement working with legal experts to pass legislation outlawing conversion therapy and end the harm it does to LGBTQ youth and their families.

A survivor of conversion therapy from age 16-21, Mathew posted his personal story on YouTube in 2012. As a result, organizations nationwide sought his support to protect LGBTQ youth. Mathew began advocating to end conversion therapy with The National Center for Lesbian Rights. Together they founded Born Perfect in 2014.

Mathew leads the Born Perfect campaign alongside a team of lawyers and conversion therapy survivors seeking to protect LGBTQ+ people through legislation, litigation, and public education. To date, 20 states and almost 70 municipalities in the US have passed laws to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy through the legal work of Born Perfect.

Mathew’s influence and personal advocacy has been vital for passing legislation, creating new policy with medical and corporate organizations, and bringing awareness to mainstream media to further educate and help create inclusion for all people. Mathew lives in New York City as a proud out gay man. Learn more at www.bornperfect.org.

About Shannon Minter

Byline BIO: As Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Shannon Minter leads the legal team for Born Perfect, a survivor-led national movement working to outlaw conversion therapy and end the harm it does to LGBTQ youth and their families. Learn more at www.bornperfect.org.

Broadcast BIO: So-called “conversion therapy” that promises to make gay people straight has been condemned by every major medical and mental health organization, yet it continues to happen in every state. With us today is Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and leader of the legal team for Born Perfect. Born Perfect is a survivor-led national movement working to outlaw conversion therapy nationwide. Learn more at www.bornperfect.org. Welcome, Shannon. You’ve been instrumental in legal battles affecting the lives of LGBTQ people, from marriage equality to ending workplace discrimination. Why is ending conversion therapy a key part of the fight for human rights?

Full BIO: As Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Shannon Minter leads the legal team for Born Perfect, a survivor-led national movement working to outlaw conversion therapy and end the harm it does to LGBTQ youth and their families. He has been instrumental in legal battles affecting the lives of LGBTQ people, from marriage equality to ending workplace discrimination.

Shannon was lead counsel for same-sex couples in the landmark California marriage equality case which held that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry and that laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation are inherently discriminatory and subject to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny. He was also NCLR’s lead attorney in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding student group policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and rejecting the argument that such policies violated a student group’s rights to freedom of speech, religion, and association.

In 2009, Shannon was named a California Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer. In 2008, he was named among six Lawyers of the Year by Lawyers USA and among California’s Top 100 Lawyers by the legal publication The Daily Journal. He also received the 2008 Dan Bradley Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Bar Association for outstanding work in marriage cases and was the recipient of the Cornell Law School Exemplary Public Service Award. In 2005, Shannon was one of 18 people to receive the Ford Foundation’s “Leadership for a Changing World” award. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from the City University of New York School of Law for his advocacy on behalf of same-sex couples and their families. Shannon has also received the Anderson Prize Foundation’s Creating Change Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Distinguished National Service Award from GAYLAW, the bar association for LGBT lawyers, law students, and legal professionals in Washington, D.C., Cornell Law School’s Exemplary Public Service Award, the Unity Award from Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the Advocacy Award from the San Francisco Bar Association, and the Justice Award from Equality California.

Shannon serves on the boards of Gender Spectrum and the Transgender Law & Policy Institute. He has previously served on the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. He received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1993. He is originally from Texas. His favorite quote is by Henry David Thoreau: “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” Learn more at www.bornperfect.org.