Comedian Patton Oswalt is a puppet in his latest role, made of fabric with an oversized head and a shock of wild hair.
He plays a therapist trying to turn a "broken" little boy named Bobby straight by throwing a football at him and blaming Bobby's "problem" on his mother, whose "motherly influence has sucked the masculinity right out of him."
All the characters are puppets in "Bobby's Big Problem," a short film released Tuesday by the LGBTQ rights group Born Perfect, to warn people about the dangers of conversion therapy.
Conversion therapy tries to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity and is condemned by the medical community.
"THANK YOU @TheBornPerfect for letting me be a part of this," Oswalt tweeted. "However insane, medieval and twisted you think conversion therapy is, believe me, it's WAY worse."
Born Perfect is a survivor-led campaign created in 2014 by the National Center for Lesbian Rights to get laws passed to ban the practice in the United States and raise public awareness.
The new campaign starring Oswalt uses the theme: "Be you. Don't be a puppet."
"Your mother tells me you've been struggling with same-sex attractions, Bobby," Oswalt, as therapist, tells Bobby in the four-minute film.
"I wouldn't say struggling," Bobby protests.
"Is this conversion therapy?" Bobby's mom asks.
"Oh no, no," Oswalt says, laughing. "We can't call it that anymore. Not since the investigation started. What we lack in licenses we make up for in effort. We'll turn your son straight or take all your money trying."
To date, 20 states and more than 100 cities have banned conversion therapy, according to Born Perfect's website.
"Conversion therapy today doesn't look like it did five years ago or even 18 months ago. Most of it now takes place in settings that look like 'talk therapy' — whether that's with a licensed therapist or a religious figure," Born Perfect's founder, Matthew Shurka, told Variety.
Shurka himself is a survivor of conversion therapy.
"With 'Bobby's Big Problem,' we intended to make a difficult story lighter by using puppets," he told Variety. "Conversion therapy is difficult to watch, but we hope by using puppets to show its absurdity, more people will be see our message — and in turn, understand what conversion therapy is and, hopefully, get help if they've unknowingly been under going this abuse."
According to a 2019 report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, nearly 700,000 LGBT adults in the United States have undergone conversion therapy, including about 350,000 subjected to it as adolescents.
The report estimated that 16,000 LGBT youth, age 13 to 17, will receive it from a licensed health care professional before they're 18 in states that don't currently ban it. Nearly 60,000 will go through it at the hands of religious or spiritual advisers before they turn 18, the report said.
