What is a gay conversion therapy

By Christoffer Aguilar

LGBTQI+ Australians continue to deal with obstacles to the full realisation of their human rights. One major obstacle is the perform of ‘conversion therapy,’ which emerged in Australia in the 1950’s and continues to damage the physical and mental health of LGTBQI+ Australians.

In August 2020, Queensland (‘Qld’) and Australian Capital Territory (‘ACT’) passed laws banning conversion therapy, offering optimism to LGBTQI+ Australians in these states.

Then, in November 2020, after broad consultation, the Victorian Government introduced a Bill to outlaw Homosexual conversion practices. Assist groups welcomed the move, with Equality Australia describing the Bill’s mechanisms to prevent harm and penalise perpetrators as “world leading”.

It is worth understanding how these bans would impact the LGBTQI+ community and guide other states to ban the exercise, which could guide to a national ban. But first, what does conversion therapy encompass and what are the justifications behind its promotion and use?

Conversion therapy and its effects

Conversion therapy is a pseudoscientific practice whereby an LGBTQI+ person is subjected to methods of torture, cruel, inhuman

Conversion therapy

Practitioners of ‘conversion therapy’ aim to change a person’s sexual orientation or suppress a person’s gender identity. UKCP actively campaigns against all forms of conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy is an umbrella term for a therapeutic approach, model or individual viewpoint that demonstrates an assumption that any sexual orientation or gender individuality is inherently preferable to any other, and which attempts to bring about a change of sexual orientation or gender individuality, or seeks to suppress an individual’s expression of sexual orientation or gender identity on that basis.

UKCP was previously a signatory of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Conversion Therapy in the UK.We are now in discussion with other counselling and psychotherapy bodies to investigate drawing up new guidelines relating to conversion therapy, with a specific emphasis on being psychotherapeutically informed and led.

If any members of the public hold evidence of UKCP members offering conversion therapies, we encourage you to produce a complaint.

Conversion therapy – frequently asked questions

Conversion therapy is an umbrella word for therapy that is based on the assumptio

1. Executive summary

1.1 Background

The UK government has committed to exploring legislative and non-legislative options for ending so-called ‘conversion therapy’.

In this state the term ‘conversion therapy’ is used to point to to any efforts to change, modify or supress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity regardless of whether it takes place in a healthcare, religious or other setting.

The aim of this analyze was to improve comprehending of the practice and to address the obeying 4 questions:

  1. What forms does conversion therapy take?
  2. Who experiences conversion therapy and why?
  3. What are the outcomes of conversion therapy?
  4. What measures own been taken to terminate conversion therapy around the world?

To answer questions 1 to 3, we carried out a rapid evidence assessment of research published from January 2000 to June 2020. We identified 46 published studies. Most of the evidence was specifically focused on conversion therapy aimed at switching sexual orientation, with only 5 articles that specifically addressed conversion therapy to change gender identity.

We also carried out a qualitative study to gather evidence on the experiences of people in the UK who had

Conversion Therapy and LGBT Youth

Polling also indicates that many people do not ponder conversion therapy is effective; only 8% of respondents to a 2014 national poll said they thought conversion therapy could change a person’s sexual orientation from gay to straight.

Current Laws

Conversion Therapy by Licensed Health Care Professionals

As of June 2019, 18 states and the District of Columbia had passed statutes limiting the employ of conversion therapy: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Recent Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Brand-new York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The laws protect youth under age 18 from receiving conversion therapy from licensed mental health care providers. California was the first state to pass a conversion therapy ban in 2012. Four states—Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York—passed bans in 2019. In addition, a number of cities and counties in states without statewide bans have passed bans at the local level.

All of the state statutory bans allow licensing entities to discipline health care providers who use conversion therapy on youth under age 18. Under Con

The Lies and Dangers of Efforts to Convert Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity

Organizational Positions on Reparative Therapy

Declaration on the Impropriety and Dangers of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts

We, as national organizations acting for millions of licensed medical and mental health look after professionals, educators, and advocates, come together to communicate our professional and scientific consensus on the impropriety, inefficacy, and detriments of practices that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender individuality, commonly referred to as “conversion therapy.”

We stay firmly together in assist of legislative and policy efforts to curtail the unscientific and dangerous habit of sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts.

American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry

"The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry finds no evidence to support the application of any “therapeutic intervention” operating under the premise that a specific sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression is pathological. Furthermore, based on the scientific evidence, the AACAP asserts that such “conversion ther what is a gay conversion therapy