Hi, I’m Bryce Swanson. Sexual conversion therapy, otherwise known as Sexual Orientation Change Efforts or “SOCE”, is something that has existed for a long time- but we have only recently begun to see it for what it truly is- a scam. But first, why does this therapy even exist in the first place? The answer is almost always religion. Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Islam condemn homosexuality, and those who are raised in those faiths, if they turn out to be homosexual, were and still are forced into these so-called “conversion camps” to allow them to better conform to their faith. While you might think that the practice is universally condemned since, according to research by BMC Psychiatry, 96% of therapists wouldn’t attempt to change a client’s sexual orientation, some still believe that liking other members of the same sex is a “condition” that can be cured (3). This mindset is incredibly harmful to those that the few conversion therapists there are attempt to help, because it makes them feel as if something is fundamentally wrong with them since they can’t just “turn off” the fact that they have feelings towards the same sex. Vittorio Lingiardi, an Italian psychiatrist, supports this by stating, “these assumptions have little empirical basis and are usually derived from ideological or religious convictions and prejudices, as well as a lack of knowledge of the current science” (133).

In fact, this therapy has had such a negative effect on people that support groups have been founded all over the world to help people who have been mentally or even physically scarred by the treatment. Anthony Venn-Brown, a patient of the treatment, even states that himself and others who come out of the treatment are “ex-gay survivors”, or people who used to be in the program but have now accepted their homosexuality. This isn’t just an over exaggeration, either- according to Devinn Larsen, patients of conversion therapy “[had] hands burned or frozen while simultaneously viewing homoerotic images to discourage… same sex attraction” (287). This isn’t all, however, with yet more methods used by religious institutions being outlined in an article promoting why conversion therapy should be considered torture in the UK. Author Christopher Romero declares that “[the] Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry in Liverpool holds a three-day prayer session where participants go without food or water”, and those “participants” are in fact patients forced into conversion therapy (223). With such barbaric “treatments” involved in the conversion process, one would think that the process would be banned- and thankfully, that seems to be happening so far.

According to psychiatrist Gregory Fritz, “virtually every national professional organization serving children and/or patients with mental illness has a policy condemning conversion therapy” (1). Larsen supports this by declaring that, “the authors [of bill AB 2943], as well as the bill itself, indicated that the bill... established that selling SOCE services are unfair, deceptive, and unlawful practices because [i]n the last four decades, ‘reparative’ therapists have not produced any rigorous scientific research to substantiate their claims of [a] cure” (300). Some people, however, have taken offense to this- with certain religious organizations calling the banning of conversion therapy a violation of their religious freedom, despite the fact that they infringe on the freedom of adolescents by forcing them into therapy for something that they can’t help. Overall, it is obvious that this “therapy” is harmful and ineffective- and I hope that if you weren’t sure about whether it could be helpful before, you now realize just how dangerous this type of treatment can be. If you want to see more examples of how these programs have affected others, and know their stories, then you can visit beyondexgay.com.