The History of

Conversion Therapy
on LGBTQAI+ People
Sara Simonich and Rehana Baksh

What is Homosexuality?
Homosexuality (from the Ancient Greek
language meaning "same", and
Latin sexus, meaning "sex") is romantic
attraction, sexual attraction or sexual
behavior between members
of the same sex or gender.

What Is Conversion Therapy?

Conversion therapy (also called
reparative therapy) is any treatment that
aims to change sexual orientation from
homosexual to heterosexual. Such
treatments have been criticized as
pseudoscience and have been a source
of controversy in the United States and
other countries.

The Start of Conversion Therapy

Early treatments in the 1960s and 70s included aversion therapy,
such as shocking patients or giving them nausea-inducing drugs while
showing them same-sex people. They would also electrocute the
patients when shown the images and they showed any type of interest
in them.

What Is The Failure Rate Of Conversion

Therapy

Most everyone that has gone to some form of conversion therapy says
that the treatment has not worked and just leaves them with self hate
and uncertainty of what they want to be.

Why is Conversion Therapy Not Real

Therapy

> You dont need to be a qualified therapist in order to give treatment

> It is more abusive than therapeutic
> There is no official treatment for homosexuals so the therapist
could do anything they think would help

Why Different Therapy Can Help Someone

Confusion about sexual orientation is not unusual during
adolescence. Counseling may be helpful for young people who
are uncertain about their sexual orientation or for those who are
uncertain about how to express their sexuality and might profit
from an attempt at clarification through a counseling or
psychotherapeutic initiative. Therapy directed specifically at
changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can
provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for
achieving changes in orientation.

Historical
Examples

In World War II
During World War II when the Nazis were in charge,
one of the categories that they would take people to
concentration camps was being a homosexaul
because they believed homosexaulity was a sickness.
This is where conversion all started but it wasnt
officially called conversion therapy until the early
1950s

Sigmund Freud: Letter from Mother

This letter was sent to Freud by a mother
expressing her problems with her son, without
actually saying that he is homosexual.

Sigmund Freuds Response

Dear Mrs [Erased],
I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term yourself in your
information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no
vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of
sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men
among them. (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime and a cruelty, too. If
you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.
By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is,
in a general way we cannot promise to achieve it. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual
tendencies, which are present in every homosexual in the majority of cases it is no more possible. It is a question of the quality and the age of
the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.
What analysis can do for your son runs on a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may
bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should
have analysis with me I dont expect you will he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, dont neglect to
give me your answer.
Sincerely yours with best wishes,
Freud

What Was He Saying?

Sigmund Freud was basically saying that the mother never says the words homosexual
or any terms related to that when talking about her son, but automatically Freud knew. He
was recognising that depending on the behavior of the son, treatment may or may not be
effective. As Freud was one of the first at the time to understand that homosexuality is not a
bad thing, that it is not what some call an illness. He clearly states that homosexuality is
nothing to be ashamed of and certainly brings no advantage to a single person.

We consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly
respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them.
(Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime and a
cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.
Sigmund Freud

What Does This Have to do With the History Fair

Theme?
Freud is dealing with the early ideas of western culture accepting
and dealing with homosexuality on a broad spectrum, most obvious to
us in the letter from the mother.
Freud was one of many to encounter the idea of homophobia and
the problems that would arise including marriage equality etc.
In more cases than just Freud, even in modern times, people are
exploring the new ideas, other than sexuality that will form our world.

Treatment in
the 80s and
90s

Psychoanalysis or talk therapy,

estrogen treatments to reduce libido
in men, and even electroconvulsive
therapy, in which an electric shock is
used to induce a seizure, with side
effects such as memory loss.

What are the

Rules on
Conversion
Therapy
Currently?

What States Protect People from

Conversion Therapy

Part 2 of the states.

California, New Jersey, Oregon and the District of
Columbia have passed laws to prevent licensed
providers from offering conversion therapy to minors,
and at least 18 states have introduced similar
legislation this year (AZ, CO, CT, FL, IL, IA, MA, MN,
NV, NY, OH, PA, RI, TX, VT, VA, WA). One state (OK)
introduced legislation which would have specifically
legitimized conversion therapy and immunized it from
state oversight, but that bill failed to pass.

What Do Those Bans/Laws Do?

Laws passed in California, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., as well
as bills introduced in many other states, prohibit state-licensed
therapists from engaging in scientifically discredited and dangerous
practices that try to change a young persons sexual orientation or
gender identity.
The laws also state that the regulated practices do not include
therapies that provide acceptance, support, and understanding of
clients or the facilitation of clients coping, social support, and identity
exploration and development, including sexual orientation-neutral
efforts to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual
practices. They specifically exempt therapy designed to aid a person in

Why are Those Laws Necessary

These laws are needed to ensure that therapists who are licensed
by the state are providing competent care and are not harming
patients. Before 1973, many mental health organizations inaccurately
considered same-sex attraction to be a mental illness.
They are especially needed to protect minors, who are almost
always forced or coerced to undergo conversion therapy. These statelicensed practitioners frequently prey on well-intentioned parents and
legal guardians who do not understand that they are putting their
children at risk of serious harm.

An Interview with a Gay Person about

Conversion Therapy
Questions
1. How do you feel about conversion
therapy?
2. Do you think it's effective?
3. Have you been to any conversion therapy?
4. How was the experience?

Answers
1. It makes me angry
2. No not at all
3. Yes
4. Really bad I felt harassed physically and
mentally

5. Did it change your sexuality?

5. Nope I still like girls

6. Do you doubt about your sexuality?

6. Kind of... I want to be different. I feel guilty

Although conversion
therapy is frowned upon.
There are many people
that believe that it works
and put their kids
through this illusion.

Just in Utah alone there

are 23 official camps
for conversion therapy
and many religious
figures act as
therapists for these
homosexual children

Bibliography
https://www.truthwinsout.org/history-of-ex-gay-therapy
http://www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/life-as-ex-ex-gay-pa
ulk-108090_Page2.html#.Vmr5wlfEQ5Y
http://www.livescience.com/25082-gay-conversion-therapy-facts.html
http://www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy
http://www.openculture.com/2014/09/freud-letter-on-homosexuality.html
https://www.truthwinsout.org/history-of-ex-gay-therapy/

THE END