I took my son to conversion therapy. Here’s when I knew it was an awful mistake.

Photo: screenshot

The following is an excerpt from the memoir, “The Untold Story of Scott Hoying, Pentatonix Star” by Connie Hoying, out May 6.

For many years, Scott didn’t feel like he could openly be who he is.

He expressed himself musically, but he didn’t share a big part of himself with me until he was seventeen. I was with him, on a long drive back from a piano lesson in Lewisville. It was like any ordinary day. We were just chatting about everyday things, when, a few miles from our house, he suddenly broke into tears. I was caught off guard and anxiously asked him what was wrong.

Scott paused for a moment, collected himself, and then he said to me, “Mom, I’m gay.” Those words hung in the air momentarily. I was shocked—I had no idea, and I’d never really considered the possibility. He had always had girlfriends, and he had dated Kirstie for most of his sophomore year of high school.

I could see how difficult this conversation was for him, so I wanted to make sure that I responded the right way. In that vulnerable space, I told him that…