When I speak to Chris Csabonyi over the phone he sounds as though he’s beaming. A petition he has launched to ban gay conversion therapy in Australia has been signed by over 40,000 people, has helped prompt an inquiry into the issue by the Victorian State Government, and has just lead the Australian Capital Territory Government to announce it will outlaw the practice.
Yet, life couldn’t have been more different for Chris less than a decade ago. Having been lead to believe that religious counselling could turn him heterosexual, if only he put his faith in God, he had been left feeling suicidal and like a failure after spending years in constant prayer.