LGBTQ teens and young people have historically often been disowned in an attempt to avoid anticipated shame on the remaining family, but with the rise of LGBTQ acceptance and the ability of stories to spread like wildfire through social media sharing, we live in a day where that can backfire tremendously on judgmental parents.
One recent example of this is 19-year-old Canisius College student Emily Scheck.
After her parents found out she was in a relationship with another young woman at her college, they reportedly told her that she could either come home and undergo conversion therapy, or they would cut her off.
“Well, I am done with you,” her mother texted. “As of right now, declare yourself independent. You’re on your own. Please don’t contact us or your siblings again.”
Not long after, Scheck’s father drove all of her personal belongings up to the campus and removed the license plates from her car, which she had paid for but which had been on her parents’ insurance. She was on her own.
After several months spent trying to figure out other options — working part time jobs, asking the college for help, relying on friends — Scheck was considering dropping out of school due to the financial pressures.
But one of her roommates, frustrated at the situation, instead launched a GoFundMe page for Scheck.
As of this morning, it’s raised nearly $100k for the struggling student.
But the implications of the fundraiser temporarily threw Scheck’s future at school even more into jeopardy. Scheck is on the cross-country team at Canisius, and as an NCAA-eligible athlete, she is generally forbidden from raising money for herself.
This left her with a new ultimatum: keep the money but leave the cross-country team, or return the money and probably have to leave school anyway.
Scheck was leaning towards leaving the team so she could at least attempt to complete her marketing degree when media attention forced the NCAA to relent.
It’s a bittersweet ending to a story that’s ultimately just beginning, as Scheck’s relationship with her parents is still on the outs.
“It’s a private family matter,” Scheck’s father, Timothy, told The Buffalo News. “We love our daughter. We accept Emily.”
He claims there is more to the situation than Emily herself is sharing with the world, and that the therapy the family wanted their daughter to undergo was merely “counseling” and not conversion therapy.
As much as the Schecks undoubtedly would have liked this debacle to remain private, they left their daughter with few options, and rather than sacrifice who she is or her future, she opted to ask the world for help, publicizing their condemnation and ultimately turning it around on them.
Whether all the media attention will further the rift between the family or show Emily's parents the error of their ways in the long run remains to be seen. But for now?
”As long as I stay in Buffalo and I don’t come home, they’ve made it clear that I’m still on my own," Scheck said.
