Born Perfect: Assessing Free Speech Challenges to Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy Bans

Background “Conversion therapy” practices (CTP) are organized and sustained efforts to avoid the adoption of non-heterosexual sexual orientations and/or of gender identities not assigned at birth. Few data are available to inform the contemporary prevalence of CTP. The aim of this study is to quantify the prevalence of CTP among Canadian sexual and gender minority men, including details regarding the setting, age of initiation, and duration of CTP exposure. Methods Sexual and gender minority men, including transmen and non-binary individuals, aged ≥ 15, living in Canada were recruited via social media and networking applications and websites, November 2019—February 2020. Participants provided demographic data and detailed information about their experiences with CTP. Results 21% of respondents (N = 9,214) indicated that they or any person with authority (e.g., parent, caregiver) ever tried to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 10% had experienced CTP. CTP experience was highest among non-binary (20%) and transgender respondents (19%), those aged 15–19 years (13%), immigrants (15%), and racial/ethnic minorities (11–22%, with variability by identity). Among the n = 910 participants who experienced CTP, most experienced CTP in religious/faith-based settings (67%) or licensed healthcare provider offices (20%). 72% of those who experienced CTP first attended before the age of 20 years, 24% attended for one year or longer, and 31% attended more than five sessions. Interpretation CTP remains prevalent in Canada and is most prevalent among younger cohorts, transgender people, immigrants, and racial/ethnic minorities. Legislation, policy, and education are needed that target both religious and healthcare settings.

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Psychiatry, psychotherapy and the criminalisation of ‘conversion therapy’ in Australia

Australasian Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/10398562211014220 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 409-411

Author(s):

Patrick Parkinson AM ◽

Philip Morris AM

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Sexual Orientation ◽

Gender Identity ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

Psychiatric Practice ◽

Conversion Therapy

Objective: To examine laws in three Australian jurisdictions that prohibit therapy to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Conclusions: The laws in Victoria and the ACT provide inadequate protection for clinically appropriate psychiatric practice and may deprive patients of mental health care.

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Sexual Orientation Change Efforts and VBP

International Perspectives in Values-Based Mental Health Practice ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-47852-0_39 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 331-339

Author(s):

Taryn Knox

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Mutual Respect ◽

Conversion Therapy ◽

Dominant Ideology ◽

Orientation Change ◽

The Individual ◽

Change Efforts

AbstractAccording to VBP, to determine whether an individual ought to be able to choose to have safe, effective and truly consensual sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE—also known as conversion therapy), the legitimate values—values compatible with mutual respect—of the individual involved and other affected parties need to be considered. Fulford suggests that homophobic values are incompatible with mutual respect, which suggests that SOCE should not be available. This chapter argues that certain homophobic values may be compatible with mutual respect. Hence, in certain circumstances, VBP could allow safe, effective and truly consensual SOCE to go ahead. This could be considered to be a weakness of VBP. However, VBP should be applauded for considering the values of all involved, including those who make choices for themselves that do not align with the dominant ideology of a society.

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Statement of the Independent Forensic Expert Group on Conversion Therapy

Torture Journal ◽

10.7146/torture.v30i1.119654 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 66-78

Author(s):

Djordje Alempijevic ◽

Rusudan Beriashvili ◽

Jonathan Beynon ◽

Bettina Birmanns ◽

Marie Brasholt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Gender Identity ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Conversion Therapy ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

Legal Statement ◽

Pain And Suffering ◽

Degrading Treatment ◽

The Individual

Conversion therapy is a set of practices that aim to change or alter an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It is premised on a belief that an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity can be changed and that doing so is a desirable outcome for the individual, family, or community. Other terms used to describe this practice include sexual orientation change effort (SOCE), reparative therapy, reintegrative therapy, reorientation therapy, ex-gay therapy, and gay cure. Conversion therapy is practiced in every region of the world. We have identified sources confirming or indicating that conversion therapy is performed in over 60 countries.1 In those countries where it is performed, a wide and variable range of practices are believed to create change in an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Some examples of these include: talk therapy or psychotherapy (e.g., exploring life events to identify the cause); group therapy; medication (including anti-psychotics, anti- depressants, anti-anxiety, and psychoactive drugs, and hormone injections); Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (where an individual focuses on a traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation); electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (where electrodes are attached to the head and electric current is passed between them to induce seizure); aversive treatments (including electric shock to the hands and/or genitals or nausea-inducing medication administered with presentation of homoerotic stimuli); exorcism or ritual cleansing (e.g., beating the individual with a broomstick while reading holy verses or burning the individual’s head, back, and palms); force-feeding or food deprivation; forced nudity; behavioural conditioning (e.g., being forced to dress or walk in a particular way); isolation (sometimes for long periods of time, which may include solitary confinement or being kept from interacting with the outside world); verbal abuse; humiliation; hypnosis; hospital confinement; beatings; and “corrective” rape. Conversion therapy appears to be performed widely by health professionals, including medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, sexologists, and therapists. It is also conducted by spiritual leaders, religious practitioners, traditional healers, and community or family members. Conversion therapy is undertaken both in contexts under state control, e.g., hospitals, schools, and juvenile detention facilities, as well as in private settings like homes, religious institutions, or youth camps and retreats. In some countries, conversion therapy is imposed by the order or instructions of public officials, judges, or the police. The practice is undertaken with both adults and minors who may be lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or gender diverse. Parents are also known to send their children back to their country of origin to receive it. The practice supports the belief that non-heterosexual orientations are deviations from the norm, reflecting a disease, disorder, or sin. The practitioner conveys the message that heterosexuality is the normal and healthy sexual orientation and gender identity. The purpose of this medico-legal statement is to provide legal experts, adjudicators, health care professionals, and policy makers, among others, with an understanding of: 1) the lack of medical and scientific validity of conversion therapy; 2) the likely physical and psychological consequences of undergoing conversion therapy; and 3) whether, based on these effects, conversion therapy constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or torture when individuals are subjected to it forcibly2 or without their consent. This medico-legal statement also addresses the responsibility of states in regulating this practice, the ethical implications of offering or performing it, and the role that health professionals and medical and mental health organisations should play with regards to this practice. Definitions of conversion therapy vary. Some include any attempt to change, suppress, or divert an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. This medico-legal statement only addresses those practices that practitioners believe can effect a genuine change in an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Acts of physical and psychological violence or discrimination that aim solely to inflict pain and suffering or punish individuals due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, are not addressed, but are wholly condemned. This medico-legal statement follows along the lines of our previous publications on Anal Examinations in Cases of Alleged Homosexuality1 and on Forced Virginity Testing.2 In those statements, we opposed attempts to minimise the severity of physical and psychological pain and suffering caused by these examinations by qualifying them as medical in nature. There is no medical justification for inflicting on individuals torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. In addition, these statements reaffirmed that health professionals should take no role in attempting to control sexuality and knowingly or unknowingly supporting state-sponsored policing and punishing of individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

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The Three Beliefs

Unassailable Ideas ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190078065.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 10-16

Author(s):

Ilana Redstone

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Gender Identity ◽

Free Speech ◽

Good Thing ◽

Group Level ◽

The Third ◽

Viewpoint Diversity ◽

Race Ethnicity

Three beliefs shape much of what occurs on campuses. Taken together, these three beliefs make up a worldview that readily compromises certain values (like respect for free speech and viewpoint diversity) when they are viewed as conflicting with the goals of protecting against claims of harm. The first belief is that any action to undermine or replace traditional frameworks is by definition a good thing. The second belief is that, absent the hand of discriminatory actors, all group-level outcomes would be equal. The third belief is in the primacy of identity, which is commonly invoked through race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

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Retrospective Self-Reports of Changes in Homosexual Orientation: A Consumer Survey of Conversion Therapy Clients

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.2000.86.3c.1071 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 86 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1071-1088 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Joseph Nicolosi ◽

A. Dean Byrd ◽

Richard W. Potts

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Well Being ◽

Consumer Survey ◽

Conversion Therapy ◽

Present Sample ◽

Self Help ◽

Homosexual Orientation ◽

Self Reports ◽

Spiritual Well Being ◽

Therapy Clients

We present the results of a survey of 882 dissatisfied homosexual people whom we queried about their beliefs regarding conversion therapy and the possibility of change in sexual orientation. There were 70 closed-ended questions on the survey and 5 open-ended ones. Of the 882 participants, 726 of them reported that they had received conversion therapy from a professional therapist or a pastoral counselor. Of the participants 779 or 89.7% viewed themselves as “more homosexual than heterosexual,” “almost exclusively homosexual,” or “exclusively homosexual” in their orientation before receiving conversion therapy or making self-help efforts to change. After receiving therapy or engaging in self-help, 305 (35.1%) of the participants continued to view their orientation in this manner. As a group, the participants reported large and statistically significant reductions in the frequency of their homosexual thoughts and fantasies that they attributed to conversion therapy or self-help. They also reported large improvements in their psychological, interpersonal, and spiritual well-being. These responses cannot, for several reasons, be generalized beyond the present sample, but the attitudes and ideas are useful in developing testable hypotheses for further research.

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