Gay Conversion Therapy: The Harmful Illusion of Change

Let’s call conversion therapy what it is — a phony practice. Experts have thoroughly debunked it.

What is Conversion Therapy?

Conversion therapy has many names — reparative therapy, sexual reorientation therapy, and sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). But it’s all the same bag of tricks. These unethical practices try to transform someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity to match uptight social norms.

There’s rock-solid proof that sexual orientation is inborn, at least for some people. Though sexuality may change over time, those feelings can’t be forced.

As a gay therapist, I can assure you conversion therapy grossly violates human rights rather than fixes any clinical problem.

Practitioners use various methods — unscrupulous counseling, aversion techniques, even physical punishment, or forced heterosexual sex (aka rape).

Does Conversion Therapy Work?

Let’s get right to it — credible research makes it crystal clear that conversion therapy doesn’t truly change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Major health organizations have thoroughly discredited it as harmful quackery.