Homosexuality

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Homosexuality, sexual interest in and attraction to members of one’s own sex. The term gay is frequently
used as a synonym for homosexual; female homosexuality is often referred to as lesbianism.

At different times and in different cultures, homosexual behaviour has been variously approved of,
tolerated, punished, and banned. Homosexuality was not uncommon in ancient Greece and Rome, and
the relationships between adult and adolescent males in particular have become a chief focus of
Western classicists in recent years. Judeo-Christian as well as Muslim cultures have generally perceived
homosexual behaviour as sinful. Many Jewish and Christian leaders, however, have gone to great lengths
to make clear that it is the acts and not the individuals or even their “inclination” or “orientation” that
their faiths proscribe. Others—from factions within mainstream Protestantism to organizations of
Reform rabbis—have advocated, on theological as well as social grounds, the full acceptance of
homosexuals and their relationships. The topic has threatened to cause outright schisms in some
denominations.

Modern Developments

Attitudes toward homosexuality are generally in flux, partially as a result of increased political activism
(see gay rights movement) and efforts by homosexuals to be seen not as aberrant personalities but as
differing from “normal” individuals only in their sexual orientation. The conflicting views of
homosexuality—as a variant but normal human sexual behaviour on one hand, and as psychologically
deviant behaviour on the other—remain present in most societies in the 21st century, but they have
been largely resolved (in the professional sense) in most developed countries. The American Psychiatric
Association, for example, declassified “ego-syntonic homosexuality” (the condition of a person content
with his or her homosexuality) as a mental illness in 1973. Nonetheless, some religious groups continue
to emphasize reparative therapy in the attempt to “cure” homosexuality through prayer, counseling, and
behaviour modification. Their claims of success, however, are controversial. Wherever opinion can be
freely expressed, debates about homosexuality will likely continue.

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Selected Theories Of Homosexuality

Psychologists in the 19th and 20th centuries, most of whom classified homosexuality as a form of mental
illness, developed a variety of theories on its origin. The 19th-century psychologist Richard von Krafft-
Ebing, whose Psychopathia Sexualis (1886) included masturbation, sado-masochism, and “lust-murder”
in its list of sexual perversions, saw it as originating in heredity. His contemporary Sigmund Freud
characterized it as a result of conflicts of psychosexual development, including identification with the
parent of the opposite sex. Others have looked at social influences and physiological events in fetal
development as possible origins. It is likely that many instances of homosexuality result from a
combination of inborn or constitutional factors and environmental or social influences.

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By the 21st century, many societies had been discussing sexuality and sexual practices with increased
candour. Together with a growing acceptance of homosexuality as a common expression of human
sexuality, long-standing beliefs about homosexuals had begun to lose credence. The stereotypes of male
homosexuals as weak and effeminate and lesbians as masculine and aggressive, which were widespread
in the West as recently as the 1950s and early ’60s, have largely been discarded.

In the 20th-century United States, a field known as sex research was established among the social and
behavioral sciences in an effort to investigate actual sexual practice. (See sexology.) Researchers such as
Alfred Kinsey reported that homosexual activity was a frequent pattern in adolescence, among both
males and females. The Kinsey report of 1948, for example, found that 30 percent of adult American
males among Kinsey’s subjects had engaged in some homosexual activity and that 10 percent reported
that their sexual practice had been exclusively homosexual for a period of at least three years between
the ages of 16 and 55. About half as many women in the study reported predominantly homosexual
activity. Kinsey’s research methods and conclusions have been much criticized, however, and further
studies have produced somewhat different and varying results. A range of more recent surveys,
concerning predominantly homosexual behaviour as well as same-gender sexual contact in adulthood,
have yielded results that are both higher and lower than those identified by Kinsey. Instead of
categorizing people in absolute terms as either homosexual or heterosexual, Kinsey observed a spectrum
of sexual activity, of which exclusive orientations of either type make up the extremes. Most people can
be identified at a point on either side of the midpoint of the spectrum, with bisexuals (those who
respond sexually to persons of either sex) situated in the middle. Situational homosexual activity tends
to occur in environments such as prisons, where there are no opportunities for heterosexual contact.

Contemporary Issues

As mentioned above, different societies respond differently to homosexuality. In most of Africa, Asia, and
Latin America, both the subject and the behaviour are considered taboo, with some slight exception
made in urban areas. In Western countries, attitudes were somewhat more liberal. Although the topic of
homosexuality was little discussed in the public forum during the early part of the 20th century, it
became a political issue in many Western countries during the late 20th century. This was particularly
true in the United States, where the gay rights movement is often seen as a late offshoot of various civil
rights movements of the 1960s. After the 1969 Stonewall riots, in which New York City policemen raided
a gay bar and met with sustained resistance, many homosexuals were emboldened to identify
themselves as gay men or lesbians to friends, to relatives, and even to the public at large. In much of
North America and western Europe, the heterosexual population became aware of gay and lesbian
communities for the first time. Many gay men and lesbians began to demand equal treatment in
employment practices, housing, and public policy. In response to their activism, many jurisdictions
enacted laws banning discrimination against homosexuals, and an increasing number of employers in
America and European countries agreed to offer “domestic partner” benefits similar to the health care,
life insurance and, in some cases, pension benefits available to heterosexual married couples. Although
conditions for gay people had generally improved in most of Europe and North America at the turn of
the 21st century, elsewhere in the world violence against gay people continued. In Namibia, for example,
police officers were instructed to “eliminate” homosexuals. Gay students at Jamaica’s Northern
Caribbean University were beaten, and an anti-gay group in Brazil by the name of Acorda Coracao
(“Wake Up, Dear”) was blamed for murdering several gay people. In Ecuador a gay rights group called
Quitogay received so much threatening e-mail that it was given support by Amnesty International.

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Even in parts of the world where physical violence is absent, intolerance of homosexuality often persists.
There are, however, some signs of change. In one such instance, Albania repealed its sodomy statutes in
1995, and gay couples in Amsterdam in 2001 were legally married under the same laws that govern
heterosexual marriage (rather than under laws that allowed them to “register” or form “domestic”
partnerships). In the late 20th century gay men and lesbians proudly revealed their sexual orientation in
increasing numbers. Still others, notably those in the public eye, had their sexual orientation revealed in
the media and against their will by activists either for or against gay rights—a controversial practice
known as “outing.”

One of the issues that loomed largest for gay men in the last two decades of the 20th century and
beyond was AIDS. Elsewhere in the world AIDS was transmitted principally by heterosexual sex, but in
the United States and in some European centres it was particularly prevalent in urban gay communities.
As a result homosexuals were at the forefront of advocacy for research into the disease and support for
its victims through groups such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City. Novelist and playwright Larry
Kramer, who believed a more aggressive presence was needed, founded the AIDS Coalition to Unleash
Power (ACT UP), which began promoting political action, including outing, through local chapters in such
cities as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Paris. The disease also took a heavy
toll on the arts communities in these centres, and virtually none of the artistic output of gay men in the
late 20th century was untouched by the topic and the sense of great loss.
Lesbians, especially those uninvolved with intravenous drugs and the sex trade, were probably the
demographic group least affected by AIDS. However, most shared with gay men the desire to have a
secure place in the world community at large, unchallenged by the fear of violence, the struggle for
equal treatment under the law, the attempt to silence, and any other form of civil behaviour that
imposes second-class citizenship.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor.

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Homosexuality
Homosexuality can refer to both attraction or sexual behavior
between people of the same sex, or to a sexual orientation.
When describing the latter, it refers to enduring sexual and romantic attraction
towards those of the same sex, but not necessarily to sexual behavior.

Homosexuality is contrasted with heterosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality.

Lesbian denotes a homosexual woman.

Most scientist today agree that sexual orientation is most likely the result of a
complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors.

Although homosexuality does not appear to be adaptive from an evolutionary

standpoint, because homosexual sex does not produce children, there is
evidence of its existence through human history.

Although a number of biological factors have been considered by scientists, such

as prenatal hormones, chromosomes, polygenetic effects, brain structure and
viral influences, no scientific consensus exists as to how biology influences
sexual orientation.

Most scientists agree that it is unlikely that there is a single "gay gene" that
determines something as complex as sexual orientation, and that it is more likely
to be the result of an interaction of genetic, biological and environmental/cultural
factors.

Types of Homosexuality

Facultative and Obligative Homosexuality

Various authors use several terms in speaking about types of homosexualities.

Sometimes you will see the terms facultative and obligative used describing
homosexuality. The later, obligative, is considered exclusive homosexuality, a
condition in which a person can only bond or pair with a person of the same
sex. There is no option for bisexual or heterosexual bonding. Facultative
homosexuality is a technical term for sexual orientation and sexual activity
with persons of the same sex. This term does not exclude sexual relations with
members of the opposite sex; it also may be referred to as bisexuality. The
same-sex physical activity may be engaged in only for sexual release, power, or
control, or in situations where there are no members of the opposite sex, such
as in a prison.

Compulsive, symptomatic, and episodic homosexuality

One author uses three broad categories, compulsive, symptomatic, and
episodic homosexuality. (See John F Harvey, The Truth About
Homosexuality) This last one, episodic homosexuality is a catchall term and is
also called situational or variational homosexuality. Here an individual
participates in same-sex physical acts (homosexual activity), but they would
normally be heterosexual in their orientation. Homosexual activity takes place
in times or places where heterosexual activity is not possible, where people are
separated by their sex, for example prisons, schools etc. Also, this homosexual
activity may be seen in children or adolescents who do so out of curiosity or in
learning about sex. Older individuals may engage in homosexual activity for
money, in search of a new thrill, from indifference to sexual morals, or even in
rebellion to cultural norms.

When speaking about symptomatic homosexuality, one is acting homosexually

as a symptom of a more general personality problem. The stronger impetus to
homosexual activity is to resolve a personality/relational conflict which has
become sexualized. Three possible areas, though there may be others, can be
summarized. There may be problems of unsatisfied dependency needs, such as
for love and affirmation. It may be in the area of control issues, seen in
unresolved power or dominance needs. So often this is involved with sexual
abuse as a child, which possibly leads them to abuse others later on. Boys who
are abused by other older males, often feel because this has happened to them,
he must be a homosexual himself. This self-labeling may result in these
individuals continuing on with a false line of thinking, giving into homosexual
physical acts and accepting the homosexual identity and behavior.

Compulsive or obligatory homosexuality has its origins with childhood

developmental relational conflicts with their parents and peers. This category
is associated with what is being called sexual orientation. The child may prefer
and exhibit non-gender conforming behavior, which results in labeling and
identifying with homosexuality. Other typical patterns are a passive, absent, or
rejecting same sex parent. For males it is a strong mother, overshadowing the
father. For females it is often seen as a result of sexual abuse. For both sexes it
may be a result of early exposure to sex, which is not age appropriate. At a very
early age the individual child sees and feels himself as being different and not
accepted. As a result of relational/emotional needs become sexualized during
puberty. Whatever the impetus that results into acquiring compulsive
homosexuality, its underlying cause is not of being born a homosexual.

Institutional homosexualities
More often by many authors homosexuality is discussed within the framework
of three types of institutional homosexualities gender-reversed, role-
specialized, and age-structured to prove a fourth commonly identified
homosexuality the "gay identity". Many of these authors are advocates for
homosexuality.

Allosexual, Demisexual,
Bicurious — & Other
Sexualities You Need To Know
When we think about sexual orientation, what probably comes to mind for most
people are the three listed in the well-known acronym: LGBTQ+. Those five
letters stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. (Keep in mind
that transgender is a gender identity, not a sexual orientation. Someone can be
both transgender and straight, or transgender and bisexual, for example.)

The "+" encompasses those who aren't straight but aren't covered by those five
letters, either — for example, asexual, pansexual, or questioning. If you're a little
confused by this, it's understandable. LGBTQ+ representation in the media is
hardly stellar, and when it's there, it's often limited to cisgender gay, lesbian, and
bisexual characters. According to GLAAD, in 2017, only 12.8% of major studio
movies showed any LGBTQ characters. Of the few that did, 64% showed gay men,
36% showed lesbian women, and 14% showed bisexual women or men — and
these characters were all cisgender. Zeromajor studio releases
showed any transgender characters.

There are so many ways someone can identify their sexual orientation — and it's
time that we start talking about them, too. Ahead, we've compiled definitions for
some of these terms. Keep in mind that this isn't a be-all-end-all list, and we'll be
regularly updating this story with new definitions. After all, language around
sexual orientation is always evolving.

Bisexual, Pansexual, & Queer?

To be a heterosexual man or woman means having a personally significant
and meaningful romantic and/or sexual attraction primarily to adults of the
opposite sex.

To be a homosexual man or woman means having a personally significant

and meaningful romantic and/or sexual attraction primarily to adults of the
same sex. (To be an openly gay man or woman implies a personal social
integration with one’s homosexuality, including being “out” by fully accepting
one’s homosexuality and sharing about it with friends, family, and others.)

To be a bisexual man or woman means having a personally significant and

meaningful romantic and/or sexual attraction to both adult males and females.
Those who self-identify as bisexual need not be equally attracted to both
sexes.

To be gender dysphoric means experiencing a longstanding level of

discontent with one’s birth sex and/or the gender roles associated with that
sex. There are varying degrees of gender dysphoria, discussed in greater
detail below.

What is God’s view of homosexuality?

First, God loves people who experience same-sex attractions and wants them to be
reconciled to Himself just as He wants people with opposite-sex attractions to be
reconciled to Himself. He makes no distinction when Scriptures says that God loved the
world so much that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world so that anyone who
believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life - John 3:16.

Second, God explains that sin has an impact on everyone's sexuality; we are all born
with a fallen nature and live in a fallen world. One result is that we will all experience
temptations to use our sexuality and engage in sexual activity in ways that are outside
God's design and intent. Some people, both Christians and non-Christians, will
experience same-sex attractions - Romans ...

Third, God considers sexual activity with a person of the same gender to be sin (See
Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:9-
10). God sets boundaries for sexual activity and asks all people, regardless of who they
are attracted to, to live within His boundaries. His boundaries are the same for all
people. While Scripture clearly says that homosexuality is sin, it is also clear that God
does not consider homosexuality the BIGGEST sin. God considers adultery, stealing,
drunkenness, selfishness, lying and cheating to be sin just like homosexual activity and
He responds the same way to all of them (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Lastly, God responds to people who experience same-sex attractions and people who
have engaged in same-sex relationships with an offer of mercy and forgiveness, not
rejection and condemnation. Jesus Christ demonstrated God’s response when He dealt
with people involved in sexual sins. He offered mercy and forgiveness, not judgement
and condemnation. And He offered hope and freedom from the bondage of sexual sin.
He also made it clear there is a need for repentance, forgiveness and growth. Christ can
and will intervene with His super abundant love and power. No one must remain trapped
in homosexuality. Any person who experiences same-sex attractions, like any other
person, can become a new person in Christ and begin a new life with God. In fact, the
Bible clearly states that the early church in Corinth included people who had been
homosexuals but no longer were (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). God’s love and mercy is so
much greater than any sin. God will bring about the necessary changes as the person
remains in Him.

When dealing with a person who experiences same-sex attractions or is involved in

homosexuality, we must keep in mind that we are dealing with more than a specific,
sinful behaviour. We are dealing with an entire person. They are people with real needs
(for closeness to God, involvement with others, giving and receiving love). They may
have profound personal hurts. They want a hope and a future.

Homosexuality and its effect on

society
2856 words (11 pages) Essay in Sociology
5/12/16 Sociology Reference this
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Introduction
Refers to the sexual attraction to the persons of the same sex.it comes from two words
homs-means same and sex-refes to the sex orientation.its a behavior which develops du
to the environmental factors or its either through genetic inheritance.additionally,the
trait can be as a result of sexul mutilation of child .r either due to lack of good
connections between the same sex parents with their children.due to this some feelings
of the child go unmet,the feelings don’t disappear but they rather develop intense and
strange behavior twards the persons of the same sex hence the element of
homosexuality sprouts in the society.
Sociological analysis on homosexuality
Some people in the society believe homosexuality to be an illness and s that it could be
rectified .but most of of the processes of round the revolve psychological therapies
which expects to change homosexual sexuality to heterosexual. ), the world’s largest
association of psychologists American Psychological Association (APA), stated that;
“Homosexuality is not a mental disorder and the APA opposes all portrayals of lesbian,
gay and bisexual people as mentally ill and in need of treatment due to their sexual
orientation.”

But the strongly religion believes that homosexuality is a sinful act which is against the
bible and is and has a direct breach of the bible and other religious books.

moreover,some two founders of a ministry put to finish homosexuals later described

their programme as ‘ineffective since not even one person was changed.

The issue of eradicating homosexuality has became a political debate in America, with
Christian political organisations supporting the slogan of changing homosexuality
through force of will alone. They argue that many people are leaving their homosexual
lifestyles due to sexual celibacy and marriage issues.

Optionally, homosexual rights organisations argue that the views about gays and
lesbians views misunderstand the meaning of a gay,and this sprouts to discrimination
against the gay and lesbian people. additionally, the American Psychological
Association(APA) has carried out a systematic research, which have resulted to that the
psychological strategies are neither effective nor do they at any time change the sexual
orientation, however instead they can cause a considerable harm.
The views of the society on homosexuality
The research shows that the views concerning homosexuality are specifically very
delicate.in the society it depends on the culture and religios backgrounds.it is viewed
that diffent people view the issue differently according to the cultural values of their
society.gays and lesbians have civil rights which support their acts.however the religion
does not agree wioth the acts since it views it as a sin and against the laws of the bible
and any other holy book.but in the recent past individuals have tried to negotiate
religion inorder for them to be accomondated in the society.

Due to the fact that homosexuality is genetically inherited then some persons thing its
bad to call the action sinful.because this is untrue conclusion, and for important reasons.
Firstly, being wrongly prounounced, it stems up the the debate off course. The founders
and staters of the Church deal with certain acts and doings but though not with such
wrong terms as “homosexuality.” The question that rises in this is if homosexual traits
are genetic, then how logical is to accuse such person of engaging in a sinful actions of
homosexuality?.The issue that arises here are that homosexuality should be given a
better wording despite the fact that the action is considered wrong.

Despite the fact that largen sexual performance may be due to the genetic composition
of our bodies this do not gurantee that such persons with such large sexual needs
committing fornication is not sinfil but the fact remains that such actions are sinful
before the holy book of God and its something to be shunnerd in the society and such
acts are just like any other sin commitrted by a Christian. Sometimes the people’s
genetic composition might make/lead them to violent disposition and this is sinning
meaning that inclining is sinning just like when such a person commits murder or treats
people with violence in the society

Generally,homosexual is considered as a deviance and behavior that do not comply with

the social norms and values of the society, hence therefore is socially created. Since
many persons in the United States society believes that homosexuality is wrongful,
society has made and highlighted homosexuality to be a a moral wrong. Since moral
wrong is relative and not absolute to a society.
Homosexuality is not a universal form of sexual immorality. There are most cultures that
allow and support this forms of homosexuality. The Western society defy it though, and
mostly this has lead to the non-accepting view resulting to discrimination towards
homosexuals. But despite all this they should understand that homosexuality is a way of
survival for some persons even if minority in the society and they should be accepted
and accomondated the way they are and not isolating the in the society.
The Church also encourages those who endure from the feel and passion of
homosexuality. Additionally, the Church can usually and surely do a admierable work
with this minority group that exists within her flock, moreover it can also reach out and
accomondate them since such people, have much compassion especially when dealing
with peoples who suffer from different sexual passions. Mo More so the Church is still
should considers such sexual behaviors as passions even in the presence of modern
scientific research that shows how homosexuality in particular have a genetic origin also.
(Camperio-Ciani ).
Problems of homosexual
the moral, religious and legal attitudes in trials to curb sexual behavior have interfeared
with a clear view of the medical and psychological aspects of homosexuality. This
phenomenon is probably much less destructive of social aspects of our society and
culture than is generally believed, since it is actually more widespread than is generally
acknowledged.( Norman Reider, pp 381-384)
Homosexuality usually has hormonal,social and psychological factors,where the latter of
which are the only ones which can be worked with successfully in our present state . A
general practitioner’s task is to aid those who wish and need help with this problem in
finding psychiatric treatment in the same way that persons with any other emotional
disturbance are referred. This should be carried out without bias just as with any other
emotional disturbance.( Norman Reider pp 381-384).

Increase in the divorce cases due to increased engagement in the among gays and
lesbian marriage hence reduced number of heterosexual marriages.also there is a
significant number of unmarried men and women in the society.
Also Homosexuals are unproductive in character this poses a threat to the society’s
survival -in the homosexual marriages the acts involved do not lead to production and
this stems oup the issue of the society since this will lead to no tomorrows generation in
the society hence therefore thi act is considered immoral in the society and harmful.
The recent studies and researches show that the homosexuals have a greater chance of
getting psychiatric problems than the heterosexual.such problems are accompanied by
some instances such as high rates of suicide,depressin and antisocial personality
disorders also use of drugs or substance abuse.( By N.E. Whitehead, Ph.D. Author of “My
Genes Me Do It”)

Homosexuals pose a threat to children-the presence of few homosexuals who do not

exercise their normalities. These persons sin against the creator and there is no doubt
that they are leading to total destruction of the both the family and our nation. I Pat
opposed homosexuals and will do he said that he could do everything he could to
restrict the freedom of these people to spread their contagious infection to the youth of
our nation.( Pat Robertson, May 24, 1994 letter).

Homosexuality is a sad and disillusioning lifestyle-this lifestyle is full of stressfull

moments hence things are always stressfull;homosexuality poses and brings about the
increased incidences of suicide among gay teenagers,the issues of isolation
,discrimination and the cases of violences increase in the society

Homosexuality causes AIDS and other sexually transimited diseases which are and
deadly-hence it does not argue whether homosexuality immensely affects the society or
not because homosexuals since AIDS more than heterosexuals; this is due to the fact
that the same sex are mo prone to such diseases. infact, it is successful to examine the
kind of character s that are favourable to HIV infection, and such traits are shown and
noticeable by and on the gays

Homosexuals needs unique political rights and systems.-Different homosexuals want

various things in the real life of politics but there should be equality under the law
implying that no special or unique or specific treatments or a favours should be
performed to a certain unique group of persons alone but just incase such happens
then the same should be granted to the othern persons in the same society.The most
important areas specifically concerning homosexuality is, marriage laws and government
discrimination.

Homosexuality undermines religion therefore leading to stability in the society-The

argument stems up problems in some several areas in the society,such areas are such as:
Firstly, many of people think its highly beneficial if religion is undermined and we
furthermore think its not correct to compare the widespread of religion with “stability”
(whatever that is; probably, the definition is tautological, such that stability is defined as
following some religion). As is clear from several essays on morality on my atheism
page, it is quite possible to have a well-functioning society with caring individuals
without any religion at all.

Homosexual behavior is also linked with higher rates of promiscuity, physical disease,
mental illness, substance abuse, child sexual abuse and domestic violence–all things that
impact society negatively. Don’t try to say homosexual behavior doesn’t hurt society–it
is a major force that tears down society and harms children.
Causes of homosexuality
The causes of homosexuality in the modern society maybe due to:genetics inheritance
where t where,he baby is born with the gene of homosexuality u in him/her especially
from the X-gene from the mother mostly.hormonal imbalance

During birth-.here the boy is born with features that are some common with the
homosexuals than in the population. such traits might be inherited (genetic), while
others might have been caused by the change in the hormones Jeffrey suggests that
someone without these traits will be somewhat less likely to become homosexual later
than someone with the( Jeffrey Satinover,M.D. )
Environmental factors.

This comes on various developmental growth needs children kids have, needs for
friendship with the parent of the same sex and age-mates of the same sex.Its through
this that we understand that the children are not simply born with a sense of their own
gender built is formed through the connections and friendships they form with the
others, mostly the age bracket of the same sex age-mates.the children always look upon
the parent of the same sex first and then to same peers to form their own sexul
groupings inorder to understand how they suit in,and the value they own whether male
or female.If this connection lacks then children don’t form a healthy same sex bond and
such needs for same sex go unsatisfied then they intensify and take another form.
(Satinover, 1996).

The developmental factors combined with genetic temperament, impacts perceptions,

which all go to the development of homosexuality.
Sexual abuse(molestation) or traumatic experiences.
They contribute to the development of same-sex affection(attractions). personal
choice,prenatal hormone defect,lack of bondage between the child and the parent of
the same sex.

Reincarnation
Is homosexual judged harshly?

Yes, homosexuals are treated with hostility in the society…the reasons to show this
discrimination are given below:-

1) It is said that gays are not natural. And real Americans always reject unnatural things
like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) The society things that gay marriage encourage people to be gays since the
behaviuor of people affect others,

3) It is ctritisiced that encouraging gays to marry will lead open all kinds of crazy
behaviors. And even people may even decide to marry their pets because a dog has
legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all like many of
the principles on which this great country was founded; women are still property, blacks
still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of
marriages like Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile
couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t
full yet, and the world needs more children.
7) It’s also assumed that obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight
parents only raise straight children.
8) Religion do not support marriage of gays . since in many countries the cultures and
religions do not sccept such even in the country.
9) It’s also criticized that children cannot succeed without the role models of the both
sexes. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home.
That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new
social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer
life spans
The church which is expected to act as the guide to the society about the issue of
homosexuality provides the guidelines for such other than the society being so harsh to
the people with such minor traits.The church gives the guide lines on the issue-
· The church says that homosexuality is supposed to be seen as the result of humanity’s
rebellion against God, against his own nature and well-being and and its not supposed
to be seen as a way of surviving and acting for men and women who are created in the
likeness and the image of God’s.
· It also says that the people with homosexual tendencies are supposed to seek
assistance in discovering the specific causes of their homosexual orientation, and to
work toward overcoming its harmful effects in their lives.

· The church also provides that homesexual persons who accept the Orthodox faith and
everyone else who believes and struggles,instructed and counseled in the Orthodox
Christian doctrine and ascetical life hence therefore the persons still in need to justify
their behavioral traits in the society may not be included and accomondated in the
Church’s sacramental processes,this is due to the fact that the sct of doing so would not
assist them but rather harm them.

· It also suggests that the psychiatrists who are involved and deal with persons with
homosexual orientation should be given assistance inorder to help such peoples in their
thoughts,actions and feelings with theb regard on the issue of homosexuality. Such
assistance will be ideal especially if given to the necessary parents, relatives and friends
of the affected individuals in the society.additionally, It is certainly necessary for pastors
and church workers also to be given such assistance to be too involved in the
rehabilitation of the same.
These affirmations on marriage, family, sexuality, and the sanctity of life are issued by
the Holy Synod of Bishops on the occasion of the Tenth All-American Council of the
Orthodox Church in America (Miami, Florida, July, 1992)

Conclusion.
Its evident that in all societal moral disorders,therefore it follows that homosexuality too
leads to the prevention of one’s self fulfillment of goals and objectives and the joy
experienced by acting and complying with the creativity and the enduring wisdom of
the god the almighty and the moral values in the society.
The Church, and the society in complete objection of the different erroneous opinions
on the issue concerning homosexuality, do not by any means reduce neither does it
limit but rather defends and selfishly oppresses the personal freedom and dignity
realistically and authentically understood.
Moreover the church is looked upto to regulate the societal moral values and the
peoples behavior but at the same time it should leave a room for the minorities with
contrary opinions in the society.

Homosexuality - the causes...

From nucleus - winter 1997 - Homosexuality - the causes...

[pp19-28]

What causes homosexuality? Is it genes, upbringing or

simply a matter of personal choice? Peter Saunders reviews
the literature and draws some interesting conclusions

Homosexuality - 'being sexually attracted only by members

of one's own sex' according to the Oxford Dictionary.
Unfortunately, behavioural scientists tell us that this
definition is too simplistic. Sexuality is a complex matter:
many people are not exclusive in their sexual inclinations. A
classification system,[1] devised in the 1940s by Alfred
Kinsey, rates an exclusively heterosexual person as Kinsey 0
and an exclusively homosexual person as Kinsey 6, the
continuum between 0 and 6 covering varying degrees of
bisexuality. In addition to this spectrum of preference, desire
may not correlate with behaviour. Therefore, the term
'sexual orientation' is now used to describe a person's
predominant sexual preference.

19th Century medics attributed homosexuality to moral

degeneracy, mental illness and 'congenital anomaly'. The
20th Century has seen hormonal imbalance, psychosocial
influences and biological factors named as possible suspects.
The American Psychiatric Association cancelled
homosexuality's pathological classification in 1974. Now that
it has gained 'non-pathological status', it is increasingly hard
to challenge the prevailing views on homosexuality's
causation.

Bancroft, in a British Journal of Psychiatry editorial,[2] wrote,

'This is an area, par excellence, where scientific objectivity
has little chance of survival'. It certainly is easy to bring
preconceptions to scientific investigation. We are always
tempted to view the facts selectively in order to verify our
convictions. Researchers who have the added motivation of
changing public opinion will be guided along certain channels
in their work. Journalists can bring their private social
agendas to bear by selective and sensational reporting of
research findings. Tenuous conjecture is portrayed as certain
conclusion to a gullible public. Of course, it's quite
appropriate for the public to be responsibly informed about
scientific discoveries; however, twenty-second sound-bites
cannot do justice to complex controversies.

Equally, Christians have to be careful not to fall into the

same trap; we must not selectively use scientific findings to
bolster our own position. The biblical injunction to 'enquire,
probe and investigate it thoroughly' (Deuteronomy 13:14) is
good advice. As the Bible leads us to question our
interpretation of scientific facts, so new discoveries may lead
us to question whether we have interpreted the Bible
correctly. Revelation and science need to be balanced in the
humble search for truth; properly interpreted, they should
not contradict one another.
The limitations of science

When the media next announce the discovery of another 'gay

gene', we should evaluate the evidence before jumping to
conclusions.

1. Has the research been replicated elsewhere? For

decades, researchers adopted Kinsey's reported figure of
10% for the general incidence of homosexuality.
Kinsey's study had been poorly designed, using a non-
randomly selected population, 25% of whom had been
prisoners. The figures stood unchallenged until quashed
by contemporary research; a figure of 1-2% is now
generally quoted.

2. What does the scientific community say? When it was

announced that homosexual orientation had been
mapped to a section of the X chromosome,[3] the press
reported it as fact. However, a BMJ editorial[4] was far
more cautious.

3. Are there confounding variables which could be

distorting results? A key study[5] claiming to prove that
homosexuality has a genetic basis recruited subjects
through homophile magazines: hardly an unbiased
sampling process.

4. Is the apparent link a direct effect or not? Does brain

structure determine sexual orientation or vice versa? Is
there a third factor involved such as AIDS?

5. Is the proposed solution too simplistic? It is becoming

clear that nature is far more complex than we first
imagined. The lack of any real consensus should make
us suspect that we are not dealing with simple cause
and effect.
Nature or nurture?

Is homosexuality genetic or the result of upbringing? Is it

biological or psychosocial? Are people 'born that way' or
'made that way by men'? (Matthew 19:12) If nature or
nurture (or both) are involved, then what part does personal
choice play in a person adopting a homosexual lifestyle?

Opinions differ widely among leading researchers. Boston

psychiatrist Richard Pillard concludes that 'homosexual,
bisexual and heterosexual orientations are an example of the
biologic diversity of human beings, a diversity with a genetic
basis'.[6] Van Wyk and Geist contend that 'biologic factors
exert at most a predisposing rather than a determining
influence'.[7]

Nature arguments

Those who advocate a biologic cause have argued that

homosexuals possess different hormonal mechanisms, brain
structure or genotype. Such biological explanations may not
be unrelated as genes lay the blueprint for hormones which
in turn influence body structure.

Hormonal mechanisms

At one stage it was thought that homosexuals were

hormonally different. This idea was abandoned when
sensitive hormone assays became available and accurate
measurement could be made.[8]

Hormones might play a part in prenatal brain development

and hence in sexual orientation. Female rats exposed to
androgens and neonatally castrated male rats both exhibit
sexual behaviour characteristic of the opposite sex.[9,10] Is
the fetal rat's brain being hormonally programmed? Could
the same sort of thing occur in human foetuses who later
show homosexual tendencies? There are limits in
extrapolating these rodent studies to man. Sexual behaviour
in rats is under rigid hormonal control; human sex is not
reflex but complex and conscious behaviour. The prenatal
hormone theory doesn't explain the complexity and
variability of the human sexual response with changes of
erotic fantasies, modes of sexual expression and even sexual
orientation over time. If the prenatal hormone hypothesis
were correct, we would find a higher incidence of abnormal
gonadal structure or function in homosexuals. We would also
find a higher proportion of homosexuals with androgen level
disorders. Extensive reviews of the literature suggest that
this is not the case.[11,12] For example, there is no evidence
that children resulting from hormonally treated pregnancies
develop homosexual tendencies.[13]

Very rare medical conditions of ambiguous sexual status

have been suggested as evidence for a hormonal cause of
homosexual orientation. One example is testicular
feminisation: affected individuals are genetically male, have
normal intra-abdominal testes but apparently female external
genitalia. They are psychosexually indistinguishable from
heterosexual genetic females.[14] However, they are raised
as females and so this research does not prove that sexual
preference is hormonally programmed rather than
environmentally conditioned.

Women with congenital adrenal hyerplasia have masculinised

genitalia. The vast majority develop heterosexual interests
and there is no consistent evidence for an increased
incidence of lesbianism in this condition. Even if this were the
case, it would be almost impossible to show that this was due
to a hormonal effect on the brain rather than the
psychological effect of having masculinised genitalia.
It needs to be stressed that over 99% of homosexuals have
no measurable hormonal abnormality. The case for a
hormonal cause of homosexuality remains unproven.

Brain structure

Could homosexuality be the result of differences in the

structure of the brain? Again, studies in rodents have
aroused suspicions. The rat SDN-POA hypothalamic nuclei
group is sexually dimorphic. Could there be differences in
human brains, not only between male and female but
between heterosexuals and homosexuals?

In 1984, evidence was found for a sexually dimorphic

hypothalamic nucleus;[15] however, a link between size and
sexual orientation was not found.[16] In 1991, it was
reported that the hypothalamic nucleus INAH3 was smaller in
women and homosexual men than in heterosexual men.[17]
This study was highly publicised but there were again
reasons to be cautious. Firstly, the study numbers were
small. Most of the homosexual men with abnormal
hypothalamuses had died of AIDS. It was not apparent how
the anatomical area involved could have had a bearing on
sexual behaviour. Even if it did have an effect, it would
remain to be proven that the structural change was the
cause rather than the result of the altered sexual orientation.
Other researchers have pointed to technical flaws in the
study[18] and its findings.

The brain's commissures have been studied. In 1992, it was

reported that the anterior commissure was smaller in
heterosexual men than in heterosexual women and
homosexual men.[19] Again, considerable overlap existed
between the groups and the majority of the homosexuals had
AIDS. The corpus callosum has been reported as being
female-typical in homosexual men; so far, 23 studies have
yielded conflicting results.[20]

Genetic studies

'Monozygotic twins are 'experiments' which nature has

conducted for us, starting in each case with identical sets of
genes and varying environmental factors.'[21] One way of
studying twins is to find monozygotic twins (MZ) who were
separated at birth; any behaviour they both exhibit is
assumed genetic. Another approach is to compare dizygotic
twins (DZ) to MZ twins; heritability can then be estimated.

Most twin studies of homosexuality, however, are merely

anecdotal accounts of concordant (both twins are
homosexual) or discordant (only one twin is homosexual)
twins.[22] Studies of two pairs of MZ concordant lesbians
were performed in 1967[23] and 1973.[24] Between 1964
and 1980, four other sets of researchers looked at six pairs
of discordant MZ male twins.[25,26,27,28] There is only one
study, performed in 1986, of homosexual MZ twins reared
apart;29 four female and two male pairs were studied. It was
concluded that genetic factors were hard to deny in male
homosexuals, but less important in lesbians. However,
sample size was small.

There have also been few studies comparing MZ and DZ

twins. The first was done by Kallman in 1952; it provided the
first 'hard-evidence' for a genetic basis for homosexuality.
Kallman recruited twins from psychiatric, charitable and
correctional institutions; he also used 'direct contacts with
the clandestine homosexual world'.[30] He gave this biased
population Kinsey ratings from 3 to 6. He claimed that the
concordance was 100% in MZ twins but only 12% in DZ
twins. Kallman's results have never been reproduced; he
later admitted that the 100% MZ concordance was a
statistical artefact.[31]

Two studies were done in 1991, the second one being widely
reported in the popular press. The first mailed questionnaires
from which both zygosity and sexual orientation were
determined! The large sample was highly selected and
ranged from impressionable nineteen year olds to stable forty
year olds. The authors declared more homosexual MZ than
DZ twins.[32] However, they used questionable methods of
statistical analysis: Chi-squares and t-tests were
inappropriately applied. In his excellent review of the
evidence, McGuire reanalysed the data and found no
differences between the groups![33] The second, more
famous study looked for differing concordance rates between
twins and adopted brothers. All subject recruitment was
through homophile publications. Again, zygosity and Kinsey
rating were self-assessed by questionnaire. Using ratings
derived from questionnaire responses, the concordance rate
for MZ twins was 50%. The DZ twin concordance was less
than this and not significantly different from that of adopted
brothers. There are many problems with this study; indeed,
the fact that biological and adopted brothers show the same
incidence of homosexuality actually suggests an entirely
environmental origin.[34]

The most recent twin study in 1992 investigated factors

within a twin pair that might lead to homosexuality. This
study shared all the problems of the previous ones. Although
its data are no stronger than those in the other studies, it is
perhaps ironic that it found no evidence for a genetic origin.
Indeed, the authors state, 'More detailed exploration of the
sexual relationships between twins and their later
development may cast more light on the origins of sexuality
than a narrow search for genetic factors'.[35]
There have been few systematic family studies of
homosexuality; like the twin studies, most are anecdotal.
However, there are three worth looking at. In 1981[36] and
1986,[37] Pillard presented the two largest family studies to
date. Both shared many subjects, again mostly recruited
through homophile newspapers. Homosexual men gave
information about their siblings whose sexual orientation was
then rated in four different ways. Some non-cooperative
siblings were included using second-hand evidence! A more
serious problem is the conflicting definitions of sexual
orientation. An index case with a Kinsey rating of 2 was
classed as heterosexual; if he was a sibling, he was
apparently bisexual!

In a blaze of publicity in 1993, Hamer claimed to have found

a maternal inheritance pattern for male homosexuality.[38]
He apparently found five X-chromosome markers, leading to
talk of an X-linked homosexuality 'gene'. Unsurprisingly, an
article in Nature commented, 'Were virtually any other trait
involved, the paper would have received little public notice
until the results had been independently replicated'.[39]
More homosexual maternal male relatives than homosexual
paternal male relatives were reported. Once more, this
conclusion was reached using statistical tests that other
researchers consider inappropriate. As with the twin study,
McGuire reanalysed Hamer's data and stated, 'Using the
more appropriate test, I compared similar pairs of
relatives...there is no evidence for a maternal effect'. There
are also problems with the data used in the linkage study.
The general population frequency of the sequence involved,
Xq28, is not yet known. McGuire concluded, 'Until these
results are replicated...they should be viewed with extreme
scepticism'.[40]
Most recently, in 1995, two scientists made a highly
publicised announcement that a gene transplanted into fruit
flies produced homosexual behaviour![41] It later transpired
that these flies were actually bisexual and that no lesbian
flies had been produced. As discussed earlier, we should
beware of comparing human and animal sexual responses.

Overall, there is some evidence that genes may have some

bearing on the emergence of a homosexual orientation.
However, many questions remain. Why do large proportions
of MZ twins vary in their sexual orientation? Why does sexual
preference change over time or with therapy?[42] Clearly we
are not dealing with a simple causal link. While we may not
ever find a gay gene as such, there is increasing evidence to
suggest that personality variants (eg novelty seeking and
harm avoidance) may well be inherited.[43] These could
predispose to the development of a homosexual orientation
within a certain environment.

Writing in the Journal of Homosexuality, McGuire concludes,

'Any genetic study must use:

1. Valid and precise measures of individual differences

2. Appropriate methods to ascertain biological relationships

3. Research subjects who have been randomly recruited

4. Appropriate sample sizes

5. Appropriate genetics models to interpret the data.

To date, all studies of the genetic basis of sexual orientation

of men and women have failed to meet one or more or any of
the above criteria'.[44]
Nurture arguments

The pure biological view is that homosexual orientation is

programmed in the genes, fashioned by hormones and
displayed in brain structure. The pure psychosocial view is
that the environment writes upon the developing child as one
draws lines on a blank sheet of paper. As with the biological
arguments, the nurture arguments will be considered under
several headings, although they interrelate.

The cultural environment

The cultural view is that sexual conduct is determined by

society. Whereas biological sex is set at birth, gender-specific
behaviour develops in a cultural context. Tradition, religious
belief and political factors lay a framework for acceptable
behaviour which eventually feels natural. The diversity of
sexual behaviour across cultures and history provides
evidence for this view. There are cultures where homosexual
behaviour is so uncommon that there is no word for it in the
language.[45] Indeed, open long-term relationships between
consenting adults were almost unheard of in Western culture
before the 19th century.

The family environment

Most nurture theories focus on the parent-child relationship.

Male homosexuals often have a dominant, supportive mother
and a weak, remote or hostile father.[46] Lesbians may have
had a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. This view
has been popularised by Elisabeth Moberly who believes that
homosexual orientation is the result of unmet same sex-love
needs in childhood.[47]

Martin Hallett, Director and Counsellor at True Freedom

Trust, has found that the majority of male homosexuals
counselled identified very much with this lack of intimate
bonding with the father or any other male role model.[48]
The heterosexual identity is not established and the
unaffirmed child later suffers from a lack of confidence and
fear of failure in heterosexual contacts. He tries to meet his
unmet same-sex needs through sexual relationships. Sara
Lawton,[49] a Christian counsellor specialising in lesbianism
and sex-abuse, sees the root of female homosexuality as an
unmet need for mother love which becomes sexualised in the
adult and may be compounded by repressed trauma such as
adoption and sexual abuse.

The parent-child relationship can also be disturbed through

death or divorce. Saghir and Robins found that 18% of
homosexual men and 35% of lesbians had lost their father
through death or divorce by the age of ten. The figures for
heterosexuals were 9% and 4% respectively.[50] Up to 70%
of homosexual adults describe themselves as having been
'sissies' or 'tomboys' as children;[51] still, most adult
homosexuals do not fit the effeminate male or masculine
female stereotype.

The peer group environment

Forming homosexual identity takes time. Most pre-pubertal

children consider themselves heterosexual and are reinforced
in this by peer-group pressure. For the child who doesn't 'fit
in', the masculine female or the non-masculine male,
identification with the opposite sex peer group may prove
easier. This can lead to gender confusion in adolescence and
identification with others of the same sex who are suffering
from the same feelings of isolation. The acceptance of the
homosexual label can then bring a measure of security, self-
understanding and acceptance.

'Coming out' - identification with the gay culture - has many

rewards in terms of escaping from conflict, reducing the pain
of rejection and providing human contact. A network of
supportive friends and perhaps a long-term homosexual
relationship can be powerful forces driving people into and
keeping them within the gay community. The issue of
heterosexual recruitment into homosexuality is complex.
However, promotion of the idea that homosexuality is a
genetically-determined normal variant will certainly lessen
any stigma and make it easier for those with confused
gender identity to enter the 'gay community'.

The moral environment

A child's conscience is largely shaped by parental

environment and can be underdeveloped or blunted,
especially if the public conscience itself is changing. When
homosexuality was regarded as degeneracy, there were
powerful social pressures preventing its expression. Now that
one can be lambasted for suggesting that homosexuality is
abnormal, the tables have turned. Bancroft stated, 'It is
difficult, on scientific grounds, to avoid the conclusion that
the uniquely human phenomenon of sexual orientation is a
consequence of a multifactorial developmental process in
which biological factors play a part but in which psychosocial
factors remain crucially important'.[52]

The role of personal choice

Some react against nature or nurture models, arguing that

sexual orientation is a myth and homosexuality is simply a
choice. All of us sense that we have some responsibility for
our destiny. We are not solely genetic machines anymore
than we are blank slates on which experience writes. At some
point, every practising homosexual makes a choice to indulge
in homosexual fantasy or to have gay sex. However, we must
not make the mistake of ignoring the role of nature and
nurture in making those of homosexual orientation what they
are.

While there will always be those who support one sole model
of causation, most concede that many factors are involved.
Heredity, environment and personal choice all play a part.
This should leave us with a humble and open attitude, willing
to learn more from scientific research and the testimony of
skilled counsellors and gay people.

What is natural?

There is often an unstated assumption that strong feelings

should determine behaviour; in fact, this is not accepted in
almost any other area of life. We don't believe that envy
sanctions stealing or that lust legitimises adultery. Proverbs
14:12 says, 'There is a way that seems right to man but in
the end it leads to death'. The Gay Rights lobby presupposes
that what comes naturally is good. By contrast, the Bible's
view is that the whole world and human beings themselves
are polluted by sin which has affected our bodies (genes
included), minds, wills and feelings. Consequently, our
biology, thoughts, choices and desires are not what they
were intended to be. In the biblical scheme, 'natural' (as in
Romans 1:27) means not 'what comes naturally' but rather
'what God intended (and intends) us to be'.

Conversion therapy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual

orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual
interventions. There is virtually no reliable evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and
medical bodies warn that conversion therapy practices are ineffective and potentially harmful.
Nevertheless, advocates and proponents do provide anecdotal reports of people who claim some
degree of success in becoming heterosexual.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]Medical, scientific, and government
organizations in the United States and United Kingdom have expressed concern over the validity,
 efficacy and ethics of conversion therapy.[8][9][10][11][12][13] Various jurisdictions in Asia, Europe, Oceania,
and the Americas have passed laws against conversion therapy.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) opposes psychiatric treatment "based upon the
assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a prioriassumption that
a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation"[8] and describes attempts to change
sexual orientation by practitioners as unethical.[6] It also states that debates over the integration of
gay and lesbian people have obscured science "by calling into question the motives and even the
character of individuals on both sides of the issue" [8] and that the advancement of conversion therapy
may cause social harm by disseminating unscientific views about sexual orientation. [9] United States
Surgeon GeneralDavid Satcher in 2001 issued a report stating that "there is no valid scientific
evidence that sexual orientation can be changed". [14]
The highest-profile advocates of conversion therapy today tend to be fundamentalist
Christian groups and other organizations which use a religious justification for the therapy rather
than speaking of homosexuality as "a disease".[4] The main organization advocating secular forms of
conversion therapy is the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH),
which often partners with religious groups.[4]
Techniques used in conversion therapy prior to 1981 in the United States and Western Europe
included ice-pick lobotomies;[3][4][15][16][17][18] chemical castration with hormonal treatment;[19] aversive
treatments, such as "the application of electric shock to the hands and/or genitals"; "nausea-inducing
drugs ... administered simultaneously with the presentation of homoerotic stimuli";
and masturbatory reconditioning. More recent clinical techniques used in the United States have
been limited to counseling, visualization, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy, and spiritual
interventions such as "prayer and group support and pressure",[20] though there are some reports of
aversive treatments through unlicensed practice as late as the 1990s. [21][22] The term reparative
therapy has been used as a synonym for conversion therapy in general, [8] but it has been argued
that strictly speaking it refers to a specific kind of therapy associated with the psychologists Elizabeth
Moberly and Joseph Nicolosi.[23]

Contents

 1History

o 1.1Europe

o 1.2United States

 2Theories and techniques

o 2.1Behavioral modification

o 2.2Ex-gay ministry

o 2.3Psychoanalysis

o 2.4Reparative therapy

o 2.5Sex therapy
 o 2.6Lobotomy

 3Studies of conversion therapy

o 3.1"Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?"

o 3.2Analysis of the May 2001 Spitzer report

o 3.3"Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumer's Report"

 4Medical, scientific and legal views

o 4.1Legal status

o 4.2Legal status by US state

o 4.3Status by health organizations

o 4.4Self-determination

o 4.5Ethics guidelines

o 4.6International medical views

o 4.7Legal views

 5See also

 6Notes

 7Bibliography

 8External links

History[edit]
The history of conversion therapy can be divided broadly into three periods: an early Freudian
period; a period of mainstream approval of conversion therapy, when the mental health
establishment became the "primary superintendent" of sexuality; and a post-Stonewall period where
the mainstream medical profession disavowed conversion therapy.[4]
During the earliest parts of psychoanalytic history, analysts granted that homosexuality was non-
pathological in certain cases, and the ethical question of whether it ought to be changed was
discussed. By the 1920s analysts assumed that homosexuality was pathological and that attempts to
treat it were appropriate, although psychoanalytic opinion about changing homosexuality was largely
pessimistic. Those forms of homosexuality that were considered perversions were usually held to be
incurable. Analysts' tolerant statements about homosexuality arose from recognition of the difficulty
of achieving change. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing for roughly twenty years, major changes
occurred in how analysts viewed homosexuality, which involved a shift in the rhetoric of analysts,
some of whom felt free to ridicule and abuse their gay patients.[24]
Europe[edit]
Sigmund Freud[edit]

Main article: Sigmund Freud's views on homosexuality

Freud (1856–1939) was skeptical of the possibility of therapeutic conversion.

Sigmund Freud was a physician and the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud stated that homosexuality
could sometimes be removed through hypnotic suggestion,[25] and was influenced by Eugen
Steinach, a Viennese endocrinologist who transplanted testicles from straight men into gay men in
attempts to change their sexual orientation,[26] stating that his research had "thrown a strong light on
the organic determinants of homo-eroticism".[27] Freud cautioned that Steinach's operations would not
necessarily make possible a therapy that could be generally applied, arguing that such transplant
procedures would be effective in changing homosexuality in men only in cases in which it was
strongly associated with physical characteristics typical of women, and that probably no similar
therapy could be applied to lesbianism.[28][29]Steinach's method was doomed to failure because
the immune system rejects transplanted glands, and was eventually exposed as ineffective and often
harmful.[30]
Freud's main discussion of female homosexuality was the 1920 paper "The Psychogenesis of a
Case of Homosexuality in a Woman", which described his analysis of a young woman who had
entered therapy because her parents were concerned that she was a lesbian. Her father wanted this
condition changed. In Freud's view, the prognosis was unfavourable because of the circumstances
under which she entered therapy, and because homosexuality was not an illness or neurotic conflict.
Freud wrote that changing homosexuality was difficult and possible only under unusually favourable
conditions, observing that "in general to undertake to convert a fully developed homosexual into a
heterosexual does not offer much more prospect of success than the reverse". [31] Success meant
making heterosexual feeling possible, not eliminating homosexual feelings. [32]
Gay people could seldom be convinced that heterosexual sex would provide them with the same
pleasure they derived from homosexual sex. Patients often wanted to become heterosexual for
reasons Freud considered superficial, including fear of social disapproval, an insufficient motive for
change. Some might have no real desire to become heterosexual, seeking treatment only to
convince themselves that they had done everything possible to change, leaving them free to return
to homosexuality after the failure they expected.[33][34][35]
In 1935, a mother asked Freud to treat her son. Freud replied in a letter that later became famous: [36]
I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. ... 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. ... By asking me if I can help [your
son], 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.[37]
Sándor Ferenczi[edit]

Sándor Ferenczi was an influential psychoanalyst. Ferenczi hoped to cure some kinds of
homosexuality completely, but was content in practice with reducing what he considered gay men's
hostility to women, along with the urgency of their homosexual desires, and with helping them to
become attracted to and potent with women. In his view, a gay man who was confused about his
sexual identity and felt himself to be "a woman with the wish to be loved by a man" was not a
promising candidate for cure. Ferenczi believed that complete cures of homosexuality might become
possible in the future when psychoanalytic technique had been improved. [24][38][39]
Anna Freud[edit]

Daughter of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud became an influential psychoanalytic theorist in the UK. [40]
Anna Freud reported the successful treatment of homosexuals as neurotics in a series of
unpublished lectures. In 1949 she published "Some Clinical Remarks Concerning the Treatment of
Cases of Male Homosexuality" in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. In her view, it was
important to pay attention to the interaction of passive and active homosexual fantasies and
strivings, the original interplay of which prevented adequate identification with the father. The patient
should be told that his choice of a passive partner allows him to enjoy a passive or receptive mode,
while his choice of an active partner allows him to recapture his lost masculinity. She claimed that
these interpretations would reactivate repressed castration anxieties, and childhood narcissistic
grandiosity and its complementary fear of dissolving into nothing during heterosexual intercourse
would come with the renewal of heterosexual potency.[24]
Anna Freud in 1951 published "Clinical Observations on the Treatment of Male Homosexuality"
in The Psychoanalytic Quarterly and "Homosexuality" in the American Psychoanalytic
Association (APsaA) Bulletin. In these articles, she insisted on the attainment of full object-love of
the opposite sex as a requirement for cure of homosexuality. In 1951 she gave a lecture about
treatment of homosexuality which was criticised by Edmund Bergler, who emphasised the oral fears
of patients and minimized the importance of the phallic castration fears she had discussed. [24]
Anna Freud recommended in 1956 to a journalist who was preparing an article about psychoanalysis
for The Observer of London that she not quote Freud's letter to the American mother, on the grounds
that "nowadays we can cure many more homosexuals than was thought possible in the beginning.
The other reason is that readers may take this as a confirmation that all analysis can do is to
convince patients that their defects or 'immoralities' do not matter and that they should be happy with
them. That would be unfortunate."[40]
Melanie Klein[edit]

Melanie Klein was a pupil of Ferenczi. Her seminal book The Psycho-Analysis of Children, based on
lectures given to the British Psychoanalytical Society in the 1920s, was published in 1932. Klein
claimed that entry into the Oedipus Complex is based on mastery of primitive anxiety from the oral
and anal stages. If these tasks are not performed properly, developments in the Oedipal stage will
be unstable. Complete analysis of patients with such unstable developments would require
uncovering these early concerns. The analysis of homosexuality required dealing with paranoid
trends based on the oral stage. The Psycho-Analysis of Children ends with the analysis of Mr. B., a
gay man. Klein claimed that he illustrated pathologies that enter into all forms of homosexuality: a
gay man idealizes "the good penis" of his partner to allay the fear of attack he feels due to having
projected his paranoid hatred onto the imagined "bad penis" of his mother as an infant. She stated
that Mr. B.'s homosexual behaviour diminished after he overcame his need to adore the "good penis"
of an idealized man. This was made possible by his recovering his belief in the good mother and his
ability to sexually gratify her with his good penis and plentiful semen.[24]
Vote by European parliament in March 2018[edit]

In March 2018, a majority of 435 against 109 representatives in the European parliament passed a
resolution condemning conversion therapy and urging European Union member states to ban the
practice.[41][42][43]
United States[edit]
20th century[edit]

Psychoanalysis started to receive recognition in the United States in 1909, when Sigmund Freud
delivered a series of lectures at Clark University in Massachusetts at the invitation of G. Stanley Hall.
[44]
In 1913, Abraham Brill wrote "The Conception of Homosexuality", which he published in
the Journal of the American Medical Association and read before the American Medical Association's
annual meeting. Brill criticised physical treatments for homosexuality such as bladder
washing, rectal massage, and castration, along with hypnosis, but referred approvingly to Freud and
Sadger's use of psychoanalysis, calling its results "very gratifying".[45] Since Brill understood curing
homosexuality as restoring heterosexual potency, he claimed that he had cured his patients in
several cases, even though many remained homosexual. [24][46]
Wilhelm Stekel, an Austrian, published his views on treatment of homosexuality, which he
considered a disease, in the American Psychoanalytic Review in 1930. Stekel believed that "success
was fairly certain" in changing homosexuality through psychoanalysis provided that it was performed
correctly and the patient wanted to be treated. In 1932, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly published a
translation of Helene Deutsch's paper "On Female Homosexuality". Deutsch reported her analysis of
a lesbian, who did not become heterosexual as a result of treatment, but who managed to achieve a
"positive libidinal relationship" with another woman. Deutsch indicated that she would have
considered heterosexuality a better outcome.[46]
Edmund Bergler was the most important psychoanalytic theorist of homosexuality in the 1950s. [24] He
was vociferous in his opposition to Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey's work, and its reception, led Bergler to
develop his own theories for treatment, which were essentially to "blame the victim", in the
evaluation of Jennifer Terry, associate professor of Woman's Studies. [47] Bergler claimed that if gay
people wanted to change, and the right therapeutic approach was taken, then they could be cured in
90% of cases.[48] Bergler used confrontational therapy in which gay people were punished in order to
make them aware of their masochism. Bergler openly violated professional ethics to achieve this,
breaking patient confidentiality in discussing the cases of patients with other patients, bullying them,
calling them liars and telling them they were worthless. [47] He insisted that gay people could be cured.
Bergler confronted Kinsey because Kinsey thwarted the possibility of cure by presenting
homosexuality as an acceptable way of life, which was the basis of the gay rights activism of the
time.[47] Bergler popularised his views in the United States in the 1950s using magazine articles and
books aimed at non-specialists.[47][49]
In 1951, the mother who wrote to Freud asking him to treat her son sent Freud's response to
the American Journal of Psychiatry, in which it was published.[24] The 1952 first edition of the
American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I)
classified homosexuality as a mental disorder.[50]
During the three decades between Freud's death in 1939 and the Stonewall riots in 1969, conversion
therapy received approval from most of the psychiatric establishment in the United States. [51] In
1962, Irving Bieber et al. published Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study of Male Homosexuals, in
which they concluded that "although this change may be more easily accomplished by some than by
others, in our judgment a heterosexual shift is a possibility for all homosexuals who are strongly
motivated to change".[52]
There was a riot in 1969 at the Stonewall Bar in New York after a police raid. The Stonewall riot
acquired symbolic significance for the gay rights movement and came to be seen as the opening of
a new phase in the struggle for gay liberation. Following these events, conversion therapy came
under increasing attack. Activism against conversion therapy increasingly focused on the DSM's
designation of homosexuality as a psychopathology.[50] In 1973, after years of criticism from gay
activists and bitter dispute among psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association removed
homosexuality as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Supporters of the change used evidence from researchers such as Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker.
Psychiatrist Robert Spitzer, a member of the APA's Committee on Nomenclature, played an
important role in the events that led to this decision. Critics argued that it was a result of pressure
from gay activists, and demanded a referendum among voting members of the Association. The
referendum was held in 1974 and the APA's decision was upheld by a 58% majority. [50]
The APA removed ego-dystonic homosexuality from the DSM-III-R in 1987 and opposes the
diagnosis of either homosexuality or ego-dystonic homosexuality as any type of disorder. [53]
Joseph Nicolosi had a significant role in the development of conversion therapy as early as the
1990s, publishing his first book Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality in 1991.[54][55] In 1992,
Nicolosi, with Charles Socarides and Benjamin Kaufman, founded the National Association for
Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), an organization that opposes the mainstream
medical view of homosexuality and aims to "make effective psychological therapy available to all
homosexual men and women who seek change".[56]
In 1998, Christian right groups including the Family Research Council and the American Family
Association spent $600,000 on advertising promoting conversion therapy. [57] John Paulk and his then
wife Anne featured in full-page newspaper spreads.[58]
21st century[edit]

United States Surgeon General David Satcher in 2001 issued a report stating that "there is no valid
scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed".[14] The same year, a study by Robert
Spitzer concluded that some highly motivated individuals whose orientation is predominantly
homosexual can become predominantly heterosexual with some form of reparative therapy. [59] Spitzer
based his findings on structured interviews with 200 self-selected individuals (143 males, 57
females). He told The Washington Post that the study "shows some people can change from gay to
straight, and we ought to acknowledge that".[60] Spitzer's study caused controversy and attracted
media attention.[1] Spitzer recanted his study in 2012,[61] and apologized to the gay community for
making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy, [62] calling it his only professional regret.
[63]

The American Psychoanalytic Association spoke against NARTH in 2004, stating "that organization
does not adhere to our policy of nondiscrimination and ... their activities are demeaning to our
members who are gay and lesbian".[64] The same year, a survey of members of the American
Psychological Association rated reparative therapy as "certainly discredited", though the authors
warn that the results should be interpreted carefully as an initial step, not a final word. [65]
The American Psychological Association in 2007 convened a task force to evaluate its policies
regarding reparative therapy.[66]
In 2008, the organizers of an APA panel on the relationship between religion and homosexuality
canceled the event after gay activists objected that "conversion therapists and their supporters on
the religious right use these appearances as a public relations event to try and legitimize what they
do".[67][68]
In 2009, American Psychological Association stated that it "encourages mental health professionals
to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising
change in sexual orientation when providing assistance to individuals distressed by their own or
others' sexual orientation and concludes that the benefits reported by participants in sexual
orientation change efforts can be gained through approaches that do not attempt to change sexual
orientation".[69]
The ethics guidelines of major mental health organizations in the United States vary from cautionary
statements to recommendations that ethical practitioners refrain from practicing conversion therapy
(American Psychiatric Association) or from referring patients to those who do (American Counseling
Association).[8][70] In a letter dated February 23, 2011 to the Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives, the Attorney General of the United States stated "while sexual orientation carries
no visible badge, a growing scientific consensus accepts that sexual orientation is a characteristic
that is immutable".[71]
Gay rights groups and groups concerned with mental health fear reparative therapy can make
depression and suicide more likely. President Barack Obama expressed opposition to the practice in
2015.[72]

Theories and techniques[edit]

Wikinews has related
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on sexuality, insanity,
Freud, fetishes and
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Behavioral modification[edit]
Main article: Behavior modification

Before the American Psychological Association's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from
the DSM, practitioners of conversion therapy employed aversive conditioning techniques, involving
electric shock and nausea-inducing drugs during presentation of same-sex erotic images. Cessation
of the aversive stimuli was typically accompanied by the presentation of opposite-sex erotic images,
with the objective of strengthening heterosexual feelings. In "Aversion therapy for sexual deviation: a
critical review", published in 1966, M. P. Feldman claimed a 58% cure rate, but Douglas Haldeman is
skeptical that such stressful methods permit feelings of sexual responsiveness, and notes that
Feldman defined success as suppression of homosexuality and increased capacity for heterosexual
behavior.[73]
Another method used was the covert sensitization method, which involves instructing patients to
imagine vomiting or receiving electric shocks, writing that only single case studies have been
conducted, and that their results cannot be generalized. Haldeman writes that behavioral
conditioning studies tend to decrease homosexual feelings, but do not increase heterosexual
feelings, citing Rangaswami's "Difficulties in arousing and increasing heterosexual responsiveness in
a homosexual: A case report", published in 1982, as typical in this respect. [74]
Haldeman concludes that such methods can be called torture, besides being ineffective. He writes
that "Individuals undergoing such treatments do not emerge heterosexually inclined; rather they
become shamed, conflicted, and fearful about their homosexual feelings." [75]
Ex-gay ministry[edit]

OneByOne booth at a Love Won Out conference

Main article: Ex-gay

Some sources describe ex-gay ministries as a form of conversion therapy, while others state that ex-
gay organizations and conversion therapy are distinct methods of attempting to convert gay people
to heterosexuality.[1][9][76][77] Ex-gay ministries have also been called transformational ministries. [9] Some
state that they do not conduct clinical treatment of any kind. [78] Exodus International once believed
reparative therapy could be a beneficial tool.[78] The umbrella organization in the United States
ceased activities in June 2013, and the three member board issued a statement which repudiated its
aims and apologized for the harm their pursuit has caused to LGBT people.[79] The ministries that had
been members formed a new organization, Restored Hope Network, and continue to operate as
before with a renewed emphasis on spiritual conversion and therapy. [citation needed]
Psychoanalysis[edit]
Main article: Psychoanalysis

Haldeman writes that psychoanalytic treatment of homosexuality is exemplified by the work of Irving
Bieber et al. in Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study of Male Homosexuals. They advocated long-
term therapy aimed at resolving the unconscious childhood conflicts that they considered
responsible for homosexuality. Haldeman notes that Bieber's methodology has been criticized
because it relied upon a clinical sample, the description of the outcomes was based upon subjective
therapist impression, and follow-up data were poorly presented. Bieber reported a 27% success rate
from long-term therapy, but only 18% of the patients in whom Bieber considered the treatment
successful had been exclusively homosexual to begin with, while 50% had been bisexual. In
Haldeman's view, this makes even Bieber's unimpressive claims of success misleading. [80]
Haldeman discusses other psychoanalytic studies of attempts to change homosexuality. Curran and
Parr's "Homosexuality: An analysis of 100 male cases", published in 1957, reported no significant
increase in heterosexual behavior. Mayerson and Lief's "Psychotherapy of homosexuals: A follow-up
study of nineteen cases", published in 1965, reported that half of its 19 subjects were exclusively
heterosexual in behavior four and a half years after treatment, but its outcomes were based on
patient self-report and had no external validation. In Haldeman's view, those participants in the study
who reported change were bisexual at the outset, and its authors wrongly interpreted capacity for
heterosexual sex as change of sexual orientation.[81]
Reparative therapy[edit]
The term "reparative therapy" has been used as a synonym for conversion therapy generally, but
according to Jack Drescher it properly refers to a specific kind of therapy associated with the
psychologists Elizabeth Moberly and Joseph Nicolosi.[23] The term reparative refers to Nicolosi's
postulate that same-sex attraction is a person's rational and unconscious attempt to "self-repair"
feelings of inferiority.[82][83][84]
Most mental health professionals and the American Psychological Association consider reparative
therapy discredited, but it is still practiced by some.[4] In 2014 the Republican Party of Texas
endorsed "counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment" in their party platform.
[85]
Exodus International regarded reparative therapy as a useful tool to eliminate "unwanted same-
sex attraction"[78] but ceased activities in June 2013 and issued a statement repudiating its aims and
apologizing for the harm the organization had caused to LGBT people.[79] Psychoanalysts critical of
Nicolosi's theories have offered gay-affirmative approaches as an alternative to reparative therapy. [23]
[86]

Sex therapy[edit]
Main article: Masters and Johnson

Haldeman has described William Masters' and Virginia Johnson's work on sexual orientation change
as a form of conversion therapy.[87]
In Homosexuality in Perspective, published in 1979, Masters and Johnson viewed homosexuality as
the result of blocks that prevented the learning that facilitated heterosexual responsiveness, and
described a study of 54 gay men who were dissatisfied with their sexual orientation. The original
study did not describe the treatment methodology used, but this was published five years later. John
C. Gonsiorek criticized their study on several grounds in 1981, pointing out that while Masters and
Johnson stated that their patients were screened for major psychopathology or severe neurosis, they
did not explain how this screening was performed, or how the motivation of the patients to change
was assessed. Nineteen of their subjects were described as uncooperative during therapy and
refused to participate in a follow-up assessment, but all of them were assumed without justification to
have successfully changed.[88]
Haldeman writes that Masters and Johnson's study was founded upon heterosexist bias, and that it
would be tremendously difficult to replicate. In his view, the distinction Masters and Johnson made
between "conversion" (helping gay men with no previous heterosexual experience to learn
heterosexual sex) and "reversion" (directing men with some previous heterosexual experience back
to heterosexuality) was not well founded. Many of the subjects Masters and Johnson labelled
homosexual may not have been homosexual, since, of their participants, only 17% identified
themselves as exclusively homosexual, while 83% were in the predominantly heterosexual to
bisexual range. Haldeman observed that since 30% of the sample was lost to the follow-up, it is
possible that the outcome sample did not include any people attracted mainly or exclusively to the
same sex. Haldeman concludes that it is likely that, rather than converting or reverting gay people to
heterosexuality, Masters and Johnson only strengthened heterosexual responsiveness in people
who were already bisexual.[89]
Lobotomy[edit]
Main article: Lobotomy
In the 1940s and 1950s, U.S. neurologist Walter Freeman popularized the ice-pick lobotomy to treat
homosexuality. He personally performed as many as 3,439[90] lobotomy surgeries in 23 states, of
which 2,500 used his ice-pick procedure,[91] despite the fact that he had no formal surgical training.
[92]
Up to 40% of Freeman's patients were gay individuals subjected to a lobotomy [93] in order to
change their homosexual orientation, leaving most of these individuals severely disabled for the rest
of their lives.[94] While promoted at the time as a treatment for various psychoses, the effectiveness of
lobotomy in changing sexual orientation was already the subject of critical research in 1948 when a
single case was investigated by Joseph Friedlander and Ralph Banay.[95] A video depicting the "ice-
pick lobotomy" of a homosexual man was featured in the documentary film, Changing Our Minds:
The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker.[4][15][16]

Studies of conversion therapy[edit]

"Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?" [edit]
In May 2001, Robert Spitzer presented "Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual
Orientation? 200 Participants Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation", a
study of attempts to change homosexual orientation through ex-gay ministries and conversion
therapy, at the American Psychiatric Association's convention in New Orleans. The study was partly
a response to the APA's 2000 statement cautioning against clinical attempts at changing
homosexuality, and was aimed at determining whether such attempts were ever successful rather
than how likely it was that change would occur for any given individual. Spitzer wrote that some
earlier studies provided evidence for the effectiveness of therapy in changing sexual orientation, but
that all of them suffered from methodological problems.[1]
In 2012, Spitzer renounced[96][97] and retracted this study, stating "I was quite wrong in the conclusions
that I made from this study. The study does not provide evidence, really, that gays can change. And
that's quite an admission on my part."[61][98][99][100] He also apologized to the gay community for making
unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy,[62] calling it his only professional regret.
[63]
Spitzer has requested that all "ex-gay" therapy organizations such as NARTH, PFOX, American
College of Pediatricians, and Focus on the Family stop citing his study as evidence for conversion
therapy.[100]
Analysis of the May 2001 Spitzer report[edit]
The study results were based solely on interviews with the patients and not on any objective
observed results. This made it possible and likely that the report was reporting what the patients
wanted their results to be rather than the actual results.
Spitzer reported that after intervention, 66% of the men and 44% of the women had achieved "Good
Heterosexual Functioning", which he defined as requiring five criteria (being in a loving heterosexual
relationship during the last year, overall satisfaction in emotional relationship with a partner, having
heterosexual sex with the partner at least a few times a month, achieving physical satisfaction
through heterosexual sex, and not thinking about having homosexual sex more than 15% of the time
while having heterosexual sex). He found that the most common reasons for seeking change were
lack of emotional satisfaction from gay life, conflict between same-sex feelings and behavior and
religious beliefs, and desire to marry or remain married. [1][101] This paper was widely reported in the
international media and taken up by politicians in the United States, Germany, and Finland, and by
conversion therapists.[1]
In 2003, Spitzer published the paper in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. Spitzer's study has been
criticized on numerous ethical and methodological grounds, and "press releases from
both NGLTF and HRC sought to undermine Spitzer's credibility by connecting him politically to right-
wing groups that had backed the ex-gay movement".[102] Gay activists argued that the study would be
used by conservatives to undermine gay rights.[1] Spitzer acknowledged that the study sample
consisted of people who sought treatment primarily because of their religious beliefs (93% of the
sample), served in various church-related functions, and who publicly spoke in favor of changing
homosexual orientation (78%), and thus were strongly motivated to overreport success. Critics felt
he dismissed this source of bias, without even attempting to measure deception or self-deception (a
standard practice in self-reporting psychological tests like MMPI-2).[103] That participants had to rely
upon their memories of what their feelings were before treatment may have distorted the findings. It
was impossible to determine whether any change that occurred was due to the treatment because it
was not clear what it involved and there was no control group. [1] Spitzer's own data showed that
claims of change were reflected mostly in changes in self-labelling and behavior, less in attractions,
and least in the homoerotic content during the masturbatory fantasies; this particular finding was
consistent with other studies in this area.[104] Participants may have been bisexual before treatment.
Follow-up studies were not conducted.[1]Spitzer stressed the limitations of his study. Spitzer said that
the number of gay people who could successfully become heterosexual was likely to be "pretty low",
[105]
and conceded that his subjects were "unusually religious".[106]
"Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumer's Report" [edit]
Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder found in "Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumer's Report", a
peer-reviewed study of 202 respondents[107] published in 2002, that 88% of participants failed to
achieve a sustained change in their sexual behavior and 3% reported changing their orientation to
heterosexual. The remainder reported either losing all sexual drive or attempting to remain celibate,
with no change in attraction. Some of the participants who failed felt a sense of shame and had gone
through conversion therapy programs for many years. Others who failed believed that therapy was
worthwhile and valuable. Many respondents felt harmed by the attempt to change, and reported
depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, hypervigilance of gender-deviant mannerisms, social
isolation, fear of being a child abuser and poor self-esteem. Of the 8 respondents (out of a sample of
202) who reported a change in sexual orientation, 7 worked as ex-gay counselors or group leaders.
[108]

Medical, scientific and legal views[edit]

Further information: Biology and sexual orientation, Environment and sexual orientation, Timeline of
sexual orientation and medicine, and Homosexuality and psychology

Legal status[edit]

Map of countries that have bans on sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts with minors.

Ban on conversion therapy on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity
De facto ban on conversion therapy

Case-by-case bans

Ban on conversion therapy pending or proposed

No ban on conversion therapy

Country Details

Nationwide ban: Since 2010, no diagnosis can be made in the field of mental health on the exclusive basis
Argentina
registered health professionals.

Banned in one state: In February 2016, the Government of Victoria announced it would promptly introduc
February 2016, a legislative bill was introduced to the lower house of the Victorian Parliament. The bill crea
take action against groups performing conversion therapy; these powers ranging from issuing public warnin
Australia house on 25 February 2016, passed the upper house on 14 April 2016 with minor amendments and passed
2016. Royal assent was granted on 5 May 2016.[112] The law, known as the Health Complaints Act 2016,[113] w
the Australian Capital Territory are also considering enacting laws to crack down on conversion therapy.[114]

In April 2018, Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed that the Australian Government does not support conve

Nationwide ban: In 1999, the Federal Council of Psychology issued two provisions which state that "psycho
and cure for homosexuality", and that "psychologists will neither pronounce nor participate in public speec
homosexuals as pursuing any kind of psychological disorder".[116] Brazil thus became the first country in the
Human Rights of Brazil's lower house of Congress, headed by an evangelical Christian man, approved legisla
Brazil
conversion therapy.[117] The bill subsequently died without any more legislative action. In September 2017, a
psychologist to "cure" people of homosexuality, overruling the 1999 decision.[118] However, in December 201
banned.[119] In January 2018, the Federal Psychology Council established norms of performance for psycholo
any conversion therapy.[120]

Banned in three provinces and one city: Conversion therapy is banned in the province of Manitoba (since
Canada ages and across all settings in the city of Vancouver (since 2018),[124][125] and for minors in Nova Scotia (since 2
petition calling for a nationwide conversion therapy ban.[128]

Chile In February 2016, the Chilean Ministry of Health expressed their opposition to conversion therapy. The stat
therapies represent a grave threat to health and well-being, including the life, of the people who are affect

In October 2017, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill, known as the Proyecto de Ley Sobre Protección de
article 6 that "a mental health diagnosis can not be made based solely on criteria related to sexual orientation
Country Details

Health Committee.[130]

Case-by-case ban: In China, courts have ruled instances of conversion therapy to be illegal on two occasion
cases. In December 2014, a Beijing court ruled in favor of a gay man in a case against a conversion therapy
the clinic to apologize and pay monetary compensation.[131] In June 2016, a man from Henan Province sued
China
conversion therapy,[132] and was also awarded a public apology and compensation.[133] Following these two su
Ministry to ban conversion therapy.[134] However, as of April 2019, no measure has been taken by the govern
being actively promoted throughout the country.[135]

Nationwide ban: In Ecuador, the Government's view is that conversion therapy is proscribed by a 1999 law
2014 Penal Code prohibits conversion therapy, equating it to torture, and provides 10 years' imprisonment
Ecuador
In January 2012, the Ecuadorian Government raided three conversion therapy clinics in Quito, rescued doze
homosexuality", and promised to shut down every such clinic in the country.[138]

Nationwide ban: The Mental Health Decree 2010 states that people are not to be considered mentally ill if
Fiji
prohibits any conversion therapy in the field of mental health.[139] The ban only applies to registered health p

In 2008, the German Government declared itself completely opposed to conversion therapy. [140]
Germany
In February 2019, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he will seek to ban conversion therapies that cla

In February 2014, the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) issued a statement, in which it stated that there is no
India existing scientific evidence and good practice guidelines from the field of psychiatry, the Indian Psychiatric S
the belief that homosexuality is a mental illness or a disease."[142]

As of May 2018, the Prohibition of Conversion Therapies Bill 2018 has passed second reading in the Seanad
Ireland
chamber, and passage in the Dáil Éireann.[143]

In October 2014, the Ministry of Health issued a statement announcing that it considers conversion therapy
there is no scientific evidence that it is at all successful. It may also cause harm to the individual."[144]
Israel
In February 2016 and in March 2017, the Knesset rejected bills introduced by former Health Minister Yael G
minors. The bills were rejected 37–45 and 26–38, respectively.[145]
 Country Details

In 2013, the Lebanese Psychiatric Society stated that conversion therapy seeking to "convert" gays and bise
Lebanon
professionals to rely only on science when giving opinion and treatment in this matter.[146]

Legal and state-backed: In February 2017, the Malaysian Government endorsed conversion therapy, claimi
Malaysia June 2017, the Health Ministry began a film competition to find the best way to "cure" and prevent homos
outrage.[148]

Nationwide ban: In December 2016, the Parliament of Malta unanimously approved the Affirmation of Sex
Malta
becoming the first country in the European Union to ban conversion therapy.[149][150]

Organizations offering conversion therapy in the Netherlands are not eligible for subsidies.[151] In addition, si
Netherlands
coverage by healthcare insurance.[152]

New
In August 2018, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced that a conversion therapy ban could be considere
Zealand

In 2000, the Norwegian Psychiatric Association overwhelmingly voted for the position statement that "hom
Norway to treatment. A 'treatment' with the only aim of changing sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosex
place in the health system".[154]

Nationwide ban: The Mental Health Act 2007 states that people are not to be considered mentally ill if the
Samoa
prohibits any conversion therapy in the field of mental health.[155] The ban only applies to registered health p

The South African Society of Psychiatrists states that "there is no scientific evidence that reparative or conv
There is, however, evidence that this type of therapy can be destructive".[156]
South Africa
In February 2015, owners of a conversion therapy camp were found guilty of murder, child abuse and assaul
dead at the camp. The teens were beaten with spades and rubber pipes, chained to their beds, not allowed to
all with the aim of "curing" their homosexuality.[157]

Spain Banned in four autonomies: Conversion therapy has been banned in the autonomous communities of Mur
[160]
and Andalusia (since 2018).[161] The specifics vary by jurisdiction. For instance, in Murcia, the ban only ap
 Country Details

to everyone including religious groups.

The Spanish Psychological Association states that there is no evidence to support conversion therapy. "On th
depression and suicide".[162]

De facto ban: In Switzerland, it is unlawful for a medical professional to carry out conversion therapy. In 20
parliamentary interpellation that in its view, conversion therapies are "ineffective and cause significant suff
breach of professional duties on the part of any care professional undertaking them. As such, in the Govern
liable to be sanctioned by the cantonal authorities. Whether such therapies also constitute a criminal offen
Switzerland according to the Federal Council.[163]

Reports emerged in summer 2018 of a therapist claiming to be able to "cure" homosexuality through homoe
the Geneva Ministry of Health.[164] According to the Ministry, believing that homosexuality is an illness is su
Médecins du Canton de Genève describes conversion therapy as a form of charlatanism.

Nationwide ban: On 13 May 2016, the Health Bureau of the Taichung City Government announced that me
conversion therapy. According to Shader Liu, a member of Taichung's Gender Equality Committee, any grou
violating the Taiwanese Physicians Act and Psychologists Act.[165] Regulations banning conversion therapy we
effect in March 2017.[166][167] According to the Physicians Act, doctors who engage in prohibited treatments ar
Taiwan (US$15,850) and may be suspended for one month to one year.[168] However, the proposed regulations were

Instead of pushing ahead legal amendments or new regulations, on 22 February 2018, the Ministry of Health
matter, which effectively banned conversion 'therapy'.[170] In the letter, the Ministry states that sexual orientat
that any individual performing the so-called therapy is liable to prosecution under the Criminal Code or the
on the circumstances.[171]

In 2007, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the UK, issu
to seeking help for mental health problems. However, they may be misunderstood by therapists who regard
such as depression or anxiety. Unfortunately, therapists who behave in this way are likely to cause consider
attempt to change their client's sexual orientation. This can be deeply damaging. Although there are now a
United that claim that therapy can help homosexuals to become heterosexual, there is no evidence that such chan
Kingdom
After reports of a Liverpool church starving individuals for three days as a means to "cure" their homosexua
therapy "fundamentally wrong" and demanded the Government ban it. [173][174] Groups such as Stonewall and H
2018, the UK Government announced it would work towards a total ban on conversion therapy across medic
the UK, all major counselling and psychotherapy bodies, as well as the NHS, have concluded that conversio
Memorandum of Understanding".[177]

United Main article: List of U.S. jurisdictions banning conversion therapy for minors
States
 Country Details

Banned in 18 states, 2 territories, and local counties/municipalities: As of May 2019, 18 U.S. states, the
municipalities in the United States have passed laws banning the practice of conversion therapy on minors. [1
like Miami and Cincinnati.
Subsequently, legal challenges against New Jersey's and California's conversion therapy bans were filed. Un
New Jersey parents that it violated their rights by keeping them from treating their child for same-sex attract
rights of parents do not include the right to choose a specific medical or mental health treatment that the stat
find otherwise would create unimaginable and unintentional consequences." On February 10, 2015, a New J
the basis of a description of homosexuality as abnormal or a mental illness is a violation of the New Jersey C
Law Journal web site said the decision is "believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S." [186] On August 29, 20
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld California's ban.[187] In August 2016, the Ninth Circuit a
conversion therapy is not unconstitutional.[188] The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly dismissed challenges
The states of New Jersey (2013), California (2013), Oregon (2015), Illinois (2016), Vermont (2016), New M
Island(2017), Nevada (2018), Washington (2018), Hawaii (2018), Delaware (2018), Maryland (2018), New
[190]
Maine (2019),[191] and Colorado (2019),[192] as well as the District of Columbia (2015) and Puerto Rico (20
Opinion polls have found that conversion therapy bans enjoy popular support among the American populatio
though surveys in three states (Florida, New Mexico and Virginia) show support varying between 60% and 7
believed conversion therapies to be successful.[194]

Nationwide ban: Adopted in 2017, the Ley de Salud Mental ("Mental Health Law") states that in no case a d
Uruguay
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[195]

Legal status by US state[edit]

Main article: List of U.S. jurisdictions banning conversion therapy for minors

Although no national ban exists, several US states and individual counties ban therapy attempting to
change sexual orientation as shown in the map below.
Map of U.S. states and counties that have bans on sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts with
minors.

Ban on conversion therapy for minors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity

No ban on conversion therapy for minors

Status by health organizations[edit]

Many health organizations around the world have denounced and criticized sexual orientation
change efforts.[196][197][198] National health organizations in the United States have announced that there
has been no scientific demonstration of conversion therapy's efficacy in the last forty years. [9][199][200]
[201]
They find that conversion therapy is ineffective, risky and can be harmful. Anecdotal claims of
cures are counterbalanced by assertions of harm, and the American Psychiatric Association, for
example, cautions ethical practitioners under the Hippocratic oath to do no harm and to refrain from
attempts at conversion therapy.[200]
Mainstream medical bodies state that conversion therapy can be harmful because it may exploit guilt
and anxiety, thereby damaging self-esteem and leading to depression and even suicide. [202] There is
also concern in the mental health community that the advancement of conversion therapy can cause
social harm by disseminating inaccurate views about sexual orientation and the ability of gay and
bisexual people to lead happy, healthy lives.[9]
List of health organizations critical of conversion therapy [edit]

Major health organizations critical of conversion therapy include:

Multi-national health organizations[edit]

 The World Psychiatric Association[203][204]

 The Pan American Health Organization regional office of the World Health Organization[205]

 The International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses [206]

US health organizations[edit]

 The American Medical Association[207]

 The American Psychiatric Association[197][198]

 The American Psychological Association[197][198]

 The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy[208]

 The American Counseling Association[197][198]

 The National Association of Social Workers[197][198]

 The American Academy of Pediatrics[209]

 The American Academy of Physician Assistants[9][210]

 The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists [211]
UK health organizations[edit]

 The National Association of School Psychologists[196]

 The UK Council for Psychotherapy[196]

 The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy[196]

 The British Psychological Society[196]

 The British Psychoanalytic Council[196]

 The Royal College of Psychiatrists[196][212]

 The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies [212]

 The Association of Christian Counsellors[212]

 The National Counselling Society[212]

 The Scottish National Health Service[212]

 The English National Health Service[212]

 The Royal College of General Practitioners[212]

Australian health organizations[edit]

 The Australian Medical Association[213][214]

 The Australian Psychological Society[215]

 The National LGBTI Health Alliance[216]

 The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners operates a unit titled "Sex, sexuality,
gender diversity and health" as part of its curriculum for aspiring general practitioners and
for professional development, which is intended to foster the provision of "non-judgemental
holistic care that is affirming and positive when disclosure occurs and based on sound
knowledge of any mental or physical health risks and requirements for screening, because like
many others in the Australian population, many sex, sexuality and gender diverse individuals do
not want to be solely defined by their gender or sexual identity."[217]

 Dr Catherine Yelland, President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, stated in a

press release issued by the College that "[g]ay conversion therapy is unethical, harmful and not
supported by medical evidence."[114][218]

 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists [219][220]

Other health organizations[edit]
 The Austrian Society for Public Health[221]

 The Canadian Psychological Association[222]

 The Public Health Agency of Canada[223]

 The Norwegian Psychiatric Association[224]

 The Chilean College of Psychologists[225]

 The Brazilian Federal Council of Psychology[116]

 The Indian Psychiatric Society[142]

 The Lebanese Psychiatric Society[146]

 The South African Society of Psychiatrists[156]

 The Spanish Psychological Association[162]

 The Israel Medical Association[226]

 The Psychological Society of Ireland[227]

APA taskforce study[edit]

The American Psychological Association undertook a study of the peer-reviewed literature in the
area of sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) and found a myriad of issues with the procedures
used in conducting the research. The taskforce did find that some participants experienced a
lessening of same sex attraction and arousal, but that these instances were "rare" and "uncommon".
The taskforce concluded that, "given the limited amount of methodically sound research, claims that
recent SOCE is effective are not supported".[228]Two issues with SOCE claims are that conversion
therapists falsely assume that homosexuality is a mental disorder and that their research focuses
almost exclusively on gay men and rarely includes lesbians.[7][9][84][106][198]
Self-determination[edit]
The American Psychological Association's code of conduct states that "Psychologists respect the
dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-
determination", but also that "Psychologists are aware that special safeguards may be necessary to
protect the rights and welfare of persons or communities whose vulnerabilities impair autonomous
decision making."[229] The American Counseling Association says that "it is of primary importance to
respect a client's autonomy to request a referral for a service not offered by a counselor". [70] They
said that no one should be forced to attempt to change their sexual orientation against their will,
including children being forced by their parents.[230]
Supporters of SOCE focus on patient self-determination when discussing whether therapy should be
available. Mark Yarhouse, of Pat Robertson's Regent University, wrote that "psychologists have an
ethical responsibility to allow individuals to pursue treatment aimed at curbing experiences of same-
sex attraction or modifying same-sex behaviors, not only because it affirms the client's rights to
dignity, autonomy, and agency, as persons presumed capable of freely choosing among treatment
modalities and behavior, but also because it demonstrates regard for diversity". [231] Yarhouse and
Throckmorton, of the private Christian school Grove City College, argue that the procedure should
be available out of respect for a patient's values system and because they find evidence that it can
be effective.[232] Haldeman similarly argues for a client's right to access to therapy if requested from
a fully informed position: "For some, religious identity is so important that it is more realistic to
consider changing sexual orientation than abandoning one's religion of origin ... and if there are
those who seek to resolve the conflict between sexual orientation and spirituality with conversion
therapy, they must not be discouraged."[20]
In response to Yarhouse's paper, Jack Drescher argued that "any putative ethical obligation to refer
a patient for reparative therapy is outweighed by a stronger ethical obligation to keep patients away
from mental health practitioners who engage in questionable clinical practices". [233] Chuck Bright
wrote that refusing to endorse a procedure that "has been deemed unethical and potentially harmful
by most medical and nearly every professional psychotherapy regulating body cannot be justifiably
identified as prohibiting client self-determination".[84] Some commentators, recommending a hard
stand against the practice, have found therapy inconsistent with a psychologist's ethical duties
because "it is more ethical to let a client continue to struggle honestly with her or his identity than to
collude, even peripherally, with a practice that is discriminatory, oppressive, and ultimately ineffective
in its own stated ends".[234] They argue that clients who request it do so out of social pressure and
internalized homophobia, pointing to evidence that rates of depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug
abuse and suicidal feelings are roughly doubled in those who undergo therapy. [108]
Haldeman argues that, due to concern for people whose "spiritual or religious concerns" may
assume priority over their sexual orientation, mental health organizations do not ban conversion
therapy outright.[20]
Ethics guidelines[edit]
In 1998, the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement opposing any treatment which is
based upon the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder or that a person should change
their orientation, but did not have a formal position on other treatments that attempt to change a
person's sexual orientation. In 2000, they augmented that statement by saying that as a general
principle, a therapist should not determine the goal of treatment, but recommends that ethical
practitioners refrain from attempts to change clients' sexual orientation until more research is
available.[8]
The American Counseling Association has stated that they do not condone any training to educate
and prepare a counselor to practice conversion therapy. Counselors who do offer training in
conversion therapy must inform students that the techniques are unproven. They suggest
counselors do not refer clients to a conversion therapist or to proceed cautiously once they know the
counselor fully informs clients of the unproven nature of the treatment and the potential risks.
However, "it is of primary importance to respect a client's autonomy to request a referral for a service
not offered by a counselor". A counselor performing conversion therapy must provide complete
information about the treatment, offer referrals to gay-affirmative counselors, discuss the right of
clients, understand the client's request within a cultural context, and only practice within their level of
expertise.[70]
NARTH stated in 2012 that refusing to offer therapy aimed at change to a client who requests it, and
telling them that their only option is to claim a gay identity, could also be considered ethically
unacceptable.[235] In 2012 the British Psychological Society issued a position statement opposing any
treatments that are based on an assumption that non-heterosexual orientations are pathological. [236]
A 2013 article by the Committee on Adolescence of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated
"Referral for 'conversion' or 'reparative therapy' is never indicated; therapy is not effective and may
be harmful to LGBTQ individuals by increasing internalized stigma, distress, and depression." [237][238]
In 2014, the American Association of Christian Counselors amended its code of ethics to eliminate
the promotion of conversion therapy for homosexuals and encouraged them to be celibate instead.
[239]
An article in the American Medical Association's Journal of Ethics argues that if a pediatrician
learns that parents of a 12-year-old patient seek conversion therapy, the pediatrician can advise
against "the ineffective and potentially harmful intervention" while being culturally sensitive of their
religious objections to homosexuality. The authors argue that the doctor's medical ethics means they
should place the interests of the patient above the cultural sensitivities of the parents,
and confidentially counsel the patient about resources for LGBT youth facing bullying, and advise
the parents about resources for parents of LGBT children. [240] In 2014, major therapy professional
bodies in the United Kingdom issued a joint consensus statement opposing conversion therapy.
Professional bodies supporting the statement included the UK Council for Psychotherapy, the British
Psychoanalytic Council, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Association for Counselling
and Psychotherapy, the British Psychological Society and the National Counselling Society.[241]
In 2015, with support of the UK Government's Department of Health, a wide range of UK
organisations signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting out an agreed framework for
activities by parties concerned to help address the issues raised by the practice of conversion
therapy in the UK. In addition to many of the professional bodies that previously issued the
consensus statement, signatories included the UK Association of Christian Counsellors, the Royal
College of General Practitioners, NHS England and NHS Scotland. The signatory organisations
recognised a shared commitment to protecting the public from the risks of conversion therapy. They
committed to raise awareness among healthcare professionals and psychological therapists of
ethical issues involved in conversion therapy and to provide training to enable therapists to support
clients in distress in an appropriate way.[242]
International medical views[edit]
See also: LGBT rights in the United Kingdom

The World Health Organization's ICD-10, which along with the DSM-IV is widely used internationally,
states that "sexual orientation by itself is not to be regarded as a disorder". It lists ego-dystonic
sexual orientation as a disorder instead, which it defines as occurring where "the gender identity or
sexual preference (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or prepubertal) is not in doubt, but the
individual wishes it were different because of associated psychological and behavioural disorders,
and may seek treatment in order to change it".[243]
In 2012, the Pan American Health Organization (the North and South American branch of the World
Health Organization) released a statement cautioning against services that purport to "cure" people
with non-heterosexual sexual orientations as they lack medical justification and represent a serious
threat to the health and well-being of affected people, and noted that the global scientific and
professional consensus is that homosexuality is a normal and natural variation of human
sexuality and cannot be regarded as a pathological condition. The Pan American Health
Organization further called on governments, academic institutions, professional associations and the
media to expose these practices and to promote respect for diversity. The World Health Organization
affiliate further noted that gay minors have sometimes been forced to attend these "therapies"
involuntarily, being deprived of their liberty and sometimes kept in isolation for several months, and
that these findings were reported by several United Nations bodies. Additionally, the Pan American
Health Organization recommended that such practices be denounced and subject to sanctions and
penalties under national legislation, as they constitute a violation of the ethical principles of health
care and violate human rights that are protected by international and regional agreements.[244]
The development of theoretical models of sexual orientation in countries outside the United States
that have established mental health professions often follows the history within the U.S. (although
often at a slower pace), shifting from pathological to non-pathological conceptions of homosexuality.
[245][need quotation to verify]
Australia[edit]

Major medical and psychological bodies in Australia uniformly prohibit conversion therapy practices,
[114][216]
with published statements having come from peak bodies representing psychologists,
[215]
psychiatrists,[219][220] and medical practitioners.[213][214] In a statement issued jointly with the College of
Psychiatrists,[218] Royal Australasian College of Physicians President Catherine Yelland summarised
the view of the Australian medical community: "[g]ay conversion therapy is unethical, harmful and not
supported by medical evidence."[114] The approaches taken by peak medical bodies is exemplified by
the 2015 Australian Psychological Society Position Statement, which declares (emphasis in original)
that the:
"APS strongly opposes any approach to psychological practice or research that treats
lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people as disordered. The APS also strongly opposes
any approach to psychological practice or research that attempts to change an
individual's sexual orientation."[215]
The Position Statement supports this position by reference to the Society's Code of Ethics,
which were adopted in 2007[246] and mandated as the Code of Ethics for Australian psychologists
in 2010 by the Psychology Board of Australia.[247][248] Under the Code, psychologists are required
to "avoid discriminating unfairly against people on the basis of age, religion, sexuality, ethnicity,
gender, disability, or any other basis proscribed by law" and mandates that they
"(a) communicate respect for other people through their actions and language;
(b) do not behave in a manner that, having regard to the context, may reasonably be
perceived as coercive or demeaning;
(c) respect the legal rights and moral rights of others; and
(d) do not denigrate the character of people by engaging in conduct that demeans them as
persons, or defames, or harasses them."[246]
The Position Statement explicitly states that this ethical "requirement not to
discriminate and to respect clients' moral rights does not equate to a justification
to treat homosexuality or bisexuality as a disorder requiring
treatment,"[215] relying on the Code of Ethics' section on propriety: "psychologists
only provide psychological services within the boundaries of their professional
competence [which] includes but is not restricted to ... basing their service on
established knowledge of the discipline and profession of psychology".
[246]
Regarding the knowledge base relating to conversion therapy, the statement
is unequivocal (emphasis in original):
"There is no peer-reviewed empirical psychological research objectively documenting
the ability to 'change' an individual's sexual orientation. Furthermore, there is no peer-
reviewed empirical psychological research demonstrating that homosexuality or
bisexuality constitutes a disorder. In addition to the lack of empirical support for the claim
that sexual orientation can be changed, empirical evidence indicates that attempts at
changing sexual orientation can be harmful."[215]
The Society's position concludes by noting that it "is, of course, appropriate
for psychologists to provide clinical services to clients who experience
distress in regards to their sexual orientation ... [but this practice] should
seek to understand the reasons for distress and how it may be alleviated.
Evidence-based strategies to alleviate distress do not include attempts at
changing sexual orientation, but could include challenging negative
stereotypes, seeking social support, and self-acceptance, among others." [215]
The Government of Victoria announced in 2016 that it would be legislating
to ban all LGBTQI conversion therapy.[110][111][249] The new law began operating
in February 2017[112] and allows the Health Complaints Commissioner to act
against any health professional engaged in practices that are "found to be
making false claims and to be acting in a manner that puts people's
physical, mental or psychological health, safety or welfare at risk"—and in a
world first, this law applies to conversion therapy for adults as well as for
minors.[250][251]Western Australia and the Australian Capital
Territory announced in September 2017 that they are investigating similar
laws.[114] Advocates for a ban on conversion therapy argued that reviews
need to go beyond the practices of health professionals and into activities of
religious groups[252] and the unregulated (non-medical) counselling sector. [114]
A Fairfax Media investigation in 2018 reported that "across Australia,
organisations who believe that LGBTI people can or should change are
hard at work. Conversion practices are hidden in evangelical churches and
ministries, taking the form of exorcisms, prayer groups or counselling
disguised as pastoral care. They're also present in some religious schools
or practised in the private offices of health professionals. They're pushed
out through a thriving network of courses and mentors in the borderless
world of cyberspace, cloaked in the terminology of 'self improvement' or
'spiritual healing.'"[253] A study of Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches found
that LGBTI parishioners were faced with four options: remain closeted,
come out but commit to remaining celibate, undergo conversion therapy, or
leave the church... the majority took the last option, though typically only
after "agonising attempts to reconcile their faith and their sexuality."[254] The
study provides corroboration that conversion therapy remains practiced
within religious communities.
Following the Fairfax investigation, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called
on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to support outlawing conversion therapy
as part of the national mental health strategy. Federal Health Minister Greg
Hunt declared that the issue is one for the states as no Commonwealth
funding goes to sexual orientation change efforts—though "gay conversion
ideology has been quietly pushed in schools as part of the federal
government's chaplaincy program."[255] The report noted that the Victorian
law applies only to people offering health services[253] and so does not catch
religious groups and charities "who say they are helping same-sex attracted
people to live in accordance with their faith."[255]
Chris, a survivor of conversion therapy joined Andrews in calling for the
Federal Government to outlaw conversion therapy, declaring that "praying
the gay away nearly killed me."[256][257][258] He established a petition calling on
Turnbull and Hunt to act to outlaw conversion therapy, declaring: "I prayed
to God asking him to either heal me, or kill me. I was so depressed, I
wanted to die."[257] In April 2018, Shadow Health Minister Catherine King
wrote a response to the petition: "I'm writing to let you know that Labor
stands with you, Chris Csabs and the medical experts in opposing gay
conversion therapy...two Turnbull Government ministers—the Acting Prime
Minister and the Health Minister—have now failed to condemn the practice
when given the chance."[259] Shortly after Catherine King's response, Health
Minister for Queensland Dr Steven Miles voiced his concerns over the
practise and stated that the Federal Health Minister should be working with
the states to enact change.[260] In May 2018, the Victorian Health Minister Jill
Hennessy called for an inquiry into gay conversion therapies. In an
unprecedented move, the state government indicated it would not only
investigate health professionals but will focus on religious and faith-based
ministries propagating Gay Conversion ideologies.[261][262] The following day,
Health Minister for the Australian Capital Territory Meegan Fitzharris
followed Catherine King's lead by also responding to the petition, stating
that, "The ACT government will ban gay conversion therapy. It is abhorrent
and completely inconsistent with the inclusive values of Canberrans."[263]
Legal views[edit]
For the legal status of conversion therapy and other sexual orientation
change efforts, see Sexual orientation change efforts § Legal status.

On June 25, 2015, a New Jersey jury found the Jewish conversion therapy
organization JONAH guilty of consumer fraud in the case Ferguson v
JONAH for promising to be able to change its clients' sexual urges and
determined its commercial practices to be unconscionable.[264]
In a 1997 U.S. case, the Ninth Circuit addressed conversion therapy in the
context of an asylum application. A Russian citizen "had been apprehended
by the Russian militia, registered at a clinic as a 'suspected lesbian', and
forced to undergo treatment for lesbianism, such as 'sedative drugs' and
hypnosis. ... The Ninth Circuit held that the conversion treatments to which
Pitcherskaia had been subjected constituted mental and physical torture."
The court rejected the argument that the treatments to which Pitcherskaia
had been subjected did not constitute persecution because they had been
intended to help her, not harm her, and stated "human rights laws cannot be
sidestepped by simply couching actions that torture mentally or physically in
benevolent terms such as 'curing' or 'treating' the victims".[265]
In 1993, the Superior Court of San Francisco's Family Court placed 15-
year-old lesbian Lyn Duff under the guardianship of a foster couple after her
mother committed her to Rivendell Psychiatric Center in West Jordan, Utah,
where she allegedly endured physical abuse under the guise of conversion
therapy. Lyn Duff's petition to leave her mother was granted without court
opinion.[22][266][267][268]

See also[edit]
 LGBT rights opposition

 Sexual orientation change efforts

Notes[edit]
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a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient
should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation. ... The validity,
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Drescher 1998, p. 152

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Lewes 1988

25. ^ Freud 1991, p. 51

26. ^ LeVay 1996, p. 74,109

27. ^ Freud 1991, p. 58

28. ^ Freud 1991, pp. 58–59

29. ^ Freud 1991, p. 400

30. ^ LeVay 1996, pp. 32–33

31. ^ Freud 1991, p. 376

32. ^ Freud 1991, p. 375

33. ^ O'Connor & Ryan 1993, pp. 30–47

34. ^ Freud 1991, pp. 371–400

35. ^ Lewes 1988, p. 34

36. ^ Lewes 1988, p. 32

37. ^ Freud 1992, pp. 423–424

38. ^ Jones 1955

39. ^ Stanton 1991

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