This January, TLC will debut “My Husband’s Not Gay,” a TV show that promotes the false and dangerous idea that gay people can and should choose to be straight in order to be part of their faith communities.

As a gay Christian man who’s seen first hand how this message can harm people, I am calling on TLC to cancel “My Husband’s Not Gay” and to stop telling America that LGBT people should lie to themselves and to their faith communities about who they are and who they love.

As a devout Christian, I understand the important role faith plays in the lives of the show’s main characters. It was made very clear to me by the conservative community I grew up in that being gay was considered “unnatural” and “an abomination.” So I, too, did everything possible to hide who I am. I was even subjected to six months of so-called "reparative therapy," a discredited and dangerous practice that falsely claims to turn gay people straight. I was promised I could change, and told that I should “pray the gay away.”

But I quickly learned the very real harms of “reparative therapy” – a practice that’s been denounced as ineffective and dangerous by nearly every major medical authority. In the end, the only thing that this so-called “therapy” did was stoke a growing despair that maybe my life wasn't worth living.

The men featured in this show deserve to be shown compassion and acceptance. Perhaps even more importantly, TV viewers need to know the horrific consequences of trying to change who you are. Instead, TLC is presenting victims’ lives as entertainment, while sending the message that being gay is something that can and ought to be changed, or that you should reject your sexual orientation by marrying someone of the opposite sex. This message is harmful to both LGBT people and communities of faith, and I call upon TLC to stop spreading such dangerous misinformation by cancelling “My Husband’s Not Gay” immediately.