Conversion therapy, by definition, is the attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation from being homosexual to heterosexual. Conversion therapy usually stems from a religious foundation and is rooted in the belief that having same-sex attraction is abnormal, mentally sick, and a sin. This practice of altering sexual attraction has been around in the US for quite a long time, a little over a century.
Throughout time, about 700,000 adults with same-sex attraction have been subjected to conversion therapy through a variety of methods (“More”). Not only are these methods damaging both physically and emotionally, but they have been proven time and time again that it’s unsuccessful and unreliable. Conversion therapy leaves a lasting harmful effect on its patients and sends out a message to society that being homosexual is bad.
Conversion therapy is cruel and ineffective and should be a practice that is put in the past. One of the main points of the argument for conversion therapy is based on the matter of whether sexuality and being homosexual is a choice. Many pro-therapy advocates will argue that being homosexual is a choice and is influenced by many various factors such as childhood trauma, sexual harassment, and the environment someone grew up in.
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They believe that conversion therapy can help dig deep into those roots and “correct” someone’s homosexuality by resolving these issues. However, there is no clear evidence to back the claim that sexuality can be changed, and furthermore, much research has been conducted that has helped to determine that sexual orientation is in innate part of someone and can’t be changed. In a study conducted by Dean H. Hamer, a geneticist and researcher at the US National Institutes of Health, Hamer concluded that a chromosome called Xq28 was directly related to the sexual orientation of homosexual males (Hamer).
By studying blood samples and DNA of numerous gay men and brothers, Hamer and his team were able to identify genetic markers and patterns linking to the Xq28 chromosome. Another study conducted by the Northshore Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences studied 409 pairs of homosexual brothers and they, too, found genetic links between them and sexual orientation, also leading back to the Xq28 chromosome (Sanders). These findings clearly indicate that homosexuality is not a malleable condition that is easily altered, if even at all.
Homosexuality and sexual orientation are fixed genetic traits that are not going to just be “stomped out.” Contrary to what conversion therapists believe, being gay is not a choice that is influenced by social factors. Being gay is a natural occurrence, like being left-handed or having a double-jointed thumb. Conversion therapy attempts to change an inherent, inalterable part about someone that helps make them who they are, and this flawed logic is what makes conversion therapy so dangerous.
Despite homosexuality being proven to be genetic, many people will still attempt to change their sexuality. Many proponents of conversion therapy argue that most people who attend conversion therapy sessions do it willingly; nobody forced them to go. However, this statement leaves out quite a lot of the dark truth behind the reasons why people go. While many people do first attend conversion therapy sessions on their own accord, there are many factors that play into the reasons why people participate in it. In many cultures today in America, especially religious, homosexuality is seen as something quite atrocious.
Homosexuality has very negative connotations, such as pervertness and pedophilia, and many people will find it disgusting, even if they have no solid reason to back it up. Because of this, many people feel pressured by social and religious stigma to get rid of their homosexuality. In fact, many homosexual adolescents are forced to go to conversion therapy by their parents or religious leaders. A man named Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased, said that he continued to attend conversion therapy sessions because he didn’t want to disappoint his family and faith (“What”). Many people feel as it’s their duty to their religion or family to get rid of their homosexuality in one way or another.
Furthermore, many conversion therapy patients go because they’re scared of discrimination and violence being directed at them (Haldeman). They have high levels of stress that are associated with being homosexual and they want to get rid of it. Conversion therapy also adds to the negative stigma of homosexuality by sending out a message that says that being gay is wrong and should be changed. This in turn leads more people to reach out to conversion therapists to cure their homosexuality, which leads to an everlasting cycle. People who reach out for conversion therapy are unhappy with their homosexuality and they are trying to get help, but the treatment they receive is far from helpful. In addition to not being helpful, the treatments patients receive to try and make them get rid of their same-sex attraction is very detrimental. Physically, these methods can have really harmful effects, especially the “aversion techniques.”
These specific techniques uses treatments such as vomit-inducing drugs and electric shocks while showing the patient same-sex erotic material. Many men may get paralyzed or lose their entire sexual desire because of these methods. Therapists may also use methods such as hypnosis and talk-therapy in order to rid their patient of homosexual desires. Many therapists will talk about how their patient is a sinner, is going to Hell, is a disappointment to their family, etc. in order to try and motivate them more to become heterosexual. These methods affect patients more psychologically, and they may feel depressed and lose their sense of worth during these sessions. Patients are also often uncomfortable and feel exploited during sessions, and in many cases, men are forced to strip naked and “touch himself” in front of his therapist in an attempt to reconnect with his masculinity.
These methods are extremely inappropriate and harmful and it is not effective in making patients turn heterosexual. Because of the damaging methods that conversion therapy uses, former patients of conversion therapy have usually had serious consequences. Many have been broken down and firmly believe that they are a failure for being homosexual. Their self-esteem and self-worth has essentially been crushed and many become depressed. In addition, many former patients attempt suicide or self-harm. In fact, teens who have undergone conversion therapy is six times more likely to have depression and more than eight times as like to attempt suicide (Ryan).
Many patients also have trouble forming relationships, especially intimate ones (Haldeman). They have lost trust and social support throughout the sessions. Because of these serious psychological effects, many former patients undergo therapy that helps them come to terms with who they are. Conversion therapy is so twisted that patients have to get help because they tried to seek help. As quoted by Laura Markowitz, “It is wrong to support and feed clients’ self-hate about being homosexual or bizsexual. It does a deep, soul-twisting kind of damage that is the polar opposite of what therapy is supposed to be about.”
Using these methods Statistically, when it comes to using these methods to “cure” people with same-sex attraction, conversion therapists claims to have quite some success. One study conducted by psychiatrist Samuel Hadden claimed to have had a 37% success rate with his patients (Haldeman). Even though these statistics are still relatively low, even then it must be treated with skepticism, as it is highly likely that they are inflated. For one, most of the men who go to conversion therapy weren’t strictly homosexual to begin with. Many of the men would be more properly labeled as bisexual, and if a man is recorded as having “heterosexual relations” then they’re considered a success. Furthermore, since the results that are recorded are self-proclaimed, much of the result is biased.
Many patients will often lie to their therapist because of pressure and to gain their therapist’s approval (Haldeman). In one such case, a man named Chris went to a conversion therapist after coming out to his family. However, no matter the methods that were used on him, he continued to have strong homosexual desires. Chris felt terrible after his therapist started to act cold to him after these failed attempts, so Chris started to lie and fabricate stories about being heterosexual. By the end of the sessions, Chris had been considered a documented success, although he is now happily married to another man (Markowitz). Furthermore, follow-ups for patients who had been previously recorded as a success are very poor.
There are very little documented cases on how the patients fare after the sessions and whether or not they’ve stayed heterosexual. In fact, a study conducted by researcher E. Pattison shows that about 90% of converted patients proceeded to have homosexual tendencies after therapy (qtd. in Haldeman). These blatant attempts to inflate the success rate of conversion therapy raises many scientific concerns over the accuracy of these claims. These claims don’t meet research standards and is instead just used to try and make conversion therapy sound legitimate. In fact, most major mental health associations, such as the American Psychological Association, denounced conversion therapy and has proclaimed that homosexuality is not a mental illness that can be cured (Markowitz).
Despite numerous studies and claims that support the fact that conversion therapy is harmful and futile, in America, only nine states, thirty-two localities, and Washington D.C. has laws in place that bans conversion therapy from being used on youth (“More”). This is not nearly enough action. Conversion therapy is a practice that only does harm and takes advantage of people who have not accepted who they are and tries to force them into something they’re not. This leaves bad wounds on people who didn’t know what they were getting into and it tears them down into a state of depression and lost worth. This is the opposite of what therapy should be, something that helps you heal and accept yourself. As said by Dorothy Cantor, a clinical psychologist, “Good therapy means helping them explore why they are unhappy with being gay, not teaching them to hate themselves even more.”
Works Cited
- Haldeman, Douglas C. ‘Attempts to Change Sexual Orientation Have Been Unsuccessful.’ Homosexuality, edited by Auriana Ojeda, Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010143241/OVIC?u=onlinelibrary&sid=OVIC&xid=4d9e3ddc. Accessed 19 Dec. 2018.
- Originally published as ‘The Pseudo-science of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy,’ Angles, Dec. 1999.
- Markowitz, Laura. ‘Therapists Should Not Try to Change Gay People’s Sexual Orientation.’ Homosexuality, edited by Helen Cothran, Greenhaven Press, 2003. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010297221/OVIC?u=onlinelibrary&sid=OVIC&xid=59ac5509. Accessed 19 Dec. 2018.
- Originally published as ‘Dangerous Practice: Inside the Conversion Therapy Controversy,’ In the Family, Jan. 1999. ‘More than 20,000 LGBT teens in the U.S. will be subjected to conversion therapy.’ Liberty Press, Feb. 2018, p. 9. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530361649/OVIC?u=onlinelibrary&sid=OVIC&xid=13744bf2. Accessed 19 Dec. 2018.
- Ryan, Caitlin, et al. “Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes in White and Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults.” Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 Jan. 2009, pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/346?sso=1&sso_redirect_count=2&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR: No local token.
- Sanders, A. R., et al. “Genome-Wide Scan Demonstrates Significant Linkage for Male Sexual Orientation.” Psychological Medicine, vol. 45, no. 7, 2015, pp. 1379–1388., doi:10.1017/S0033291714002451.
- “What Gay Conversion Therapy Is Really Like.” YouTube, commentary by Garrard Conley, 9 Nov. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFRGARTeLng
