Introduction
Hello listeners, my name is Laila Campbell, I'm currently a dual-enrollment high school student, enrolled in Camden County High School as a senior but taking college classes at the Coastal College of Georgia. Today I am going to be speaking to you about the issue of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy, sometimes referred to as “reparative therapy”- a practice unfounded in science with a very dubious success rate, and proven harmful effects on the individuals that have had to go through it. With this podcast I aim to shed a light on this malpractice, which is often overlooked in society due to how comparatively small of a minority group it affects. With knowledge, however, it is strikingly clear that conversion therapy isn't therapy at all- rather, it's state-sanctioned physiological violence on LGBTQ+ individuals.
Body of Script
I believe it's ideal to begin this podcast with a short detour about my background and experiences, in order to highlight the so-called “common man's” perspective on this issue, one that I had before researching in-depth about this topic. This is the perspective and understanding you likely have now. Anyways, for my entire life I've lived in what's commonly called the “deep South” of the US, an area of Georgia toeing the Florida line, about as Southern as you can geographically be without crossing into a blue state. This area is also called the “Bible belt”, and not without good reason. Heavily conservative, traditional Biblical values are the norm for most people in these areas- especially the more rural you go. I'm not here to bash on Christianity in any way shape or form, but unfortunately, homophobia and bigotry, and general lack of understanding towards LGBTQ+ individuals often come hand-in-hand in highly religious communities, regardless of if the religious text itself speaks of tolerance or not. I speak from experience when saying that, growing up under this predominant culture in the South, my understanding of LGBTQ+ issues and the discrimination they face was just about non-existent until I connected with the community myself and began to hear their experiences.
It was a completely eye-opening experience, to hear of the intense homophobia faced not only by these individuals by their family and peers, but in many cases, directed at themselves. This is otherwise known as “internalized homophobia”, and in some cases can be equally or more detrimental. I'll expand on this later and how it relates to conversion therapy. Overall, due to the religious culture and rampant homophobia that permeates it in this area of the US, it is no little wonder that conversion therapy programs often use “ministry to gain sexual access to vulnerable gay people”, as put by Haldeman, writer of the article “The Practice and Ethics of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy” (Haldeman 224). Conversion therapy is often seen as an “out” by the parents of LGBTQ+ children, a convenient way to “reverse” and “correct” what they believe has gone wrong somewhere, due to their beliefs that portray being anything but heterosexual is incorrect. This perspective harms LGBTQ+ individuals in many ways such as in the form of violence and discrimination, of course, but it also turns out that the more “well-meaning” parents who chose conversion therapy for their children are also harming them deeply on a psychological level. With this in mind, it should be highly troubling to consider that, out of all US states, 29 have no legal protection for minors against conversion therapy as of 2020, according to lgbtmap.org, a website devoted to documenting LGBTQ+ legal rights and protections.
So what are the risks of conversion therapy that make it so harmful to LGBTQ+ individuals? Conversion therapy is at its roots a fear mongering-tactic, as, to quote Haldeman, author of the article “Gay Rights, Patient Rights: The Implications of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy”, who states “Those who report having been harmed in conversion therapies frequently report that their prior therapist(s) attempted to frighten them into changing their sexual orientation by presenting images of gay men and lesbians as depraved, chronically miserable people (Haldeman 261). The homophobic perspective of this “therapy” is damaging to LGBTQ+ individuals, as he sums up how “such depictions had the effect of prolonging ineffective, and sometimes emotionally damaging, treatments''. These forms of “therapy” and psychological help are not help at all- they operate on the basis of an individual being LGBTQ+ as a personal and wrong choice that can be altered, and not an inherent trait normally expressed in the range of human sexuality, as backed up by scientific findings.
According to Haldeman, those who undergo highly adverse forms of this treatment suffer a variety of negative mental effects in the aftermath, such as “chronic depression, low self-esteem, difficulty sustaining relationships, and sexual dysfunction” (216). Besides this, however, the rate of the treatment even working at all is extremely low, and testimonials proposing that that it is effective are few and far between, outweighed by the number of patients who reverted back to their inherent homosexual nature. Many of the programs only are able to report a 30% success rate, extremely low for such an invasive form of treatment with proven risks, not to mention for the cases who do report being able to change their sexuality, those “research participants classified as “homosexual” are often more appropriately categorized as bisexual” (261). For such a low success rate, with actual alleged “success” due to other factors such as social pressure, patients being classified as bisexual rather than homosexual, and reporting bias for positive testimonials, it is safe to say that conversion therapy is unfounded in legitimate medical, scientific, or psychiatric credibility of any sort.
Conclusion
In conclusion, with this new knowledge it should be extremely clear just how ineffective conversion therapy is for what it sets out to do, not to mention that the practices involved within it are high damaging to LGBTQ+ individuals. Nobody who is a part of this community should have to suffer being subjected to this form of homophobic malpractice, whether it's a minor under legal care of their parents, or even a LGBTQ+ person suffering enough internalized homophobia from today's prevalent culture to believe that something is “wrong” with them and needs to be fixed.For more information on this topic, and the fight to ban conversion therapy from the US, visit The Trevor Project at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ and search the article “About Conversion Therapy”.
Thank you for your time.
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