A Survivor Of Gay Conversn Therapy Shar His Chillg Story | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• 5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• A SURVIVOR OF GAY CONVERSN THERAPY SHAR HIS CHILLG STORY
• DO GAY CONVERSN THERAPY ACTUALLY WORK?
• TERRIFYG PHOTOS RECREATE THE HORRORS OF GAY 'CONVERSN THERAPY' CENTERS
• THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU UNRGO GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• DO GAY CONVERSN THERAPY WORK?
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY – REAL OR HOAX?

5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

But mastream psychologists say the therapy is effective, uhil and often harmful, exacerbatg anxiety and self-hatred among those treated for what is not a mental 2013, two s volvg the therapy to nvert gay people to heterosexuals h the urts, wh one seekg to sue unselors who offer the therapy and the other seekg to fend are five thgs you need to know about the therapy and the current psychologists say nversn therapy don't workA diagnosis of major prsn do not evoke much rponse, eher a stigmatizg or supportive, om a person's social work, a study dited.

(Image cred: Oleg Golovnev | shutterstock)Homosexualy is not nsired a mental disorr, so the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) do not remend "curg" same-sex attractn any se. Instead, societal ignorance, prejudice and prsure to nform to heterosexual sir are the real dangers to gay people's mental health, acrdg to a 1997 statement on "nversn" or "reparative" therapy by the APA. [7 Absolutely Evil Medil Experiments]More recently, people who have been through nversn therapy report talk therapy that emphasiz psdoscientific theori, such as the ia that an overbearg mother and a distant father make a child gay.

His therapist blamed his parents for Arana's homosexualy, and urged him to distance himself om his female bt Lev, one of the men sug Jonah for ceptive practic, says that he qu nversn therapy after his therapist had him strip down and touch himself to "rennect wh his masculy, " acrdg to the New York 's happeng the urts? [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]In a send se California, a feral judge is hearg arguments agast a new state law that bans nversn therapy for mors. In 1935, Frd went even further, wrg to a woman who wanted her homosexual son nverted that homosexualy "is nothg to be ashamed of, no vice, no gradatn; nnot be classified as an illns.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

One of the stranger attempts was an effort by Vienne endocrologist Eugen Steach to transplant tticl om straight men to the scrotums of gay men an attempt to rid them of same-sex sir. It didn’t of the most proment advot of nversn therapy the 1940s and 50s was Edmund Bergler, who saw homosexualy as a perversn and believed he uld "cure" gay people wh a punishment-based, nontatnal therapy the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn stopped classifyg homosexualy as a mental disorr 1973, nversn therapi lost support.

But relig-right anizatns such as Exod Internatnal and Foc on the Fay's Love Won Out took up the charge, promotg their own "ex-gay" therapi. A small group of psychologists, spltg wh their peers, ntue to promote the therapi, foundg the nversn therapy anizatn NARTH, or the Natnal Associatn for Rearch & Therapy of Homosexualy. [The 10 Most Controversial Psychiatric Disorrs]One study says worksNew rearch may shed light on how homosexualy has survived the gene pool.

In 2003, famed psychiatrist Robert Spzer, who spearhead the removal of homosexualy om the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's mental disorr list 1973, reported the journal Archiv of Sexual Behavr that terviews wh nversn therapy patients suggted that some people uld change their sexual paper was cendiary and highly cricized, given that relied on terviews wh patients stead of measurable benchmarks of same-sex sir.

A SURVIVOR OF GAY CONVERSN THERAPY SHAR HIS CHILLG STORY

Conservative groups were lighted to have support om Spzer, who wasn't tated wh relig bias or anti-gay iology; gay anizatns felt the end, however, Spzer me to agree wh his crics. But provirs, ually unlicensed, n often disguise the terms they e to avoid beg terms clu:Sexual attractn fluidy exploratn therapy (SAFE-T)Elimatg, rcg, or creasg equency or tensy of unwanted same-sex attractn (SSA)Reparative therapySexual reorientatn effortsEx-gay mistryPromotg healthy sexualyAddrsg sexual addictns and disorrsSexualy unselgEnuragg relatnal and sexual wholensHealg sexual brokennsConversn therapy techniqu n lead to feelg “ls than” or “damaged, ” impactg self-teem. A number of medil and mental health anizatns have issued public statements rejectg the e of nversn therapy bee of many provirs who claim to be qualified to provi nversn therapy are often not licensed mental health practners or medil study found that LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or qutng) people who are rejected or discrimated agast are:8 tim more likely to report havg attempted suiciAlmost 6 tim more likely to report high levels of prsnMore than 3 tim as likely to e illegal dgs3 tim more likely to be at high risk of HIV and other STDsAcrdg to rearch, nearly 700, 000 LGBTQ adults the U.

Exod ternatnal ex-gay mistri are all about “helpg” people return to their God-given genr exprsn and, you know, back to heterosexual relatnships. In October, they both walked together their first pri para and Mom told me that durg a recent church event he spoke up agast homophobic ments ma by some ngregants.

DO GAY CONVERSN THERAPY ACTUALLY WORK?

While certa therapi, like talk therapy, are also legimate forms of re for people who experience mental health problems, beg gay is, of urse, not a mental health, a 19-year-old gay man who spoke to The Huffgton Post anonymoly for this article orr to protect his safety, is a survivor of nversn therapy was subjected to nversn therapy 2012 when he was 15 years old after his parents disvered he was gay. Their goal was to get to hate ourselv for beg LGBTQ (most of were gay, but the entire spectm was reprented), and they knew what they were dog.... Robert Spzer, one of the most proment people who advoted for gay cur, actually apologized for his actns and the damage they flicted 2012.

He later beme married, had four kids, and even went off to be a missnary some far flung you stopped at that pot then you would have your typil ex-gay nversn succs story that is often promoted wh such circl. Clearly Nilosi knows ep down that his “cure” do not actually work and that he is simply nng a Stance taken by the Amerin Psychiatric AssociatnAs far back as 1973, after reviewg the evince that was not a mental disorr, they removed om the DSMIn May 2000 they issued a formal statement which they explaed that the APA …oppos any psychiatric treatment, such as reparative or nversn therapy which is based upon the assumptn that homosexualy per se is a mental disorr or based upon the a prri assumptn that the patient should change his/her sexual homosexual be a tad more blunt, they have also subsequently ma distctly clear that anybody attemptg nversn therapy is beg – memorandum of unrstandg issued 2015In 2015, the document known as the “Memorandum of Unrstandg” was published the UK.

TERRIFYG PHOTOS RECREATE THE HORRORS OF GAY 'CONVERSN THERAPY' CENTERS

Pick almost any re tenant of belief and I’ll pot out a variatn of Christian belief that do not believe illtrate that pot there are openly gay evangelil AbomatnLevic rather famoly supposedly nmns beg gay.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU UNRGO GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

Slight flaw, the actual story the bible do not any way intify that the reason for the stctn was bee some of them were 1Some read this as a clear nmnatn of gay people, but not all read that way. I am sorry that I, knowg some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lbian people I know were every b as pable of beg amazg parents as the straight people that I know.

DO GAY CONVERSN THERAPY WORK?

Those who voted their life to the ex-gay mistry, and passnately and scerely believed , disvered that was all a activists end up rejectg their relign, while others retaed their beliefs by makg peace wh the realy of their actual sexual orientatn and went forward wh their liv as Christians who are also openly rts the that today still eply embrace the tolerance and bigotry will eventually pass away jt as those who once embraced the ncept of slavery as “biblil”. ”“I have tried to move on, but the relig unselg really affected me, and up to now, I have a hard time believg if there is even a God the first place, ” said Jay Angwenyi, a gay man livg  Kenya. Beyond studi foced solely on reparative therapy, broar rearch clearly monstrat the signifint harm that societal prejudice and fay rejectn has on lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) people, particularly youth.

For example, rearch on the issue of fay acceptance of LGBTQ youth nducted at San Francis State Universy found that "pared wh LGBTQ young people who were not rejected or were only a ltle rejected by their parents and regivers bee of their gay or transgenr inty, highly rejected LGBTQ young people were:. This rolutn specifilly not that ACA oppos portrayals of lbian, gay and bisexual dividuals as mentally ill due to their sexual orientatn....

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY – REAL OR HOAX?

In 1999, the Governg Council adopted a statement ‘opposg the promotn of reparative therapy as a cure for dividuals who are homosexual. "Our AMA… oppos, the e of 'reparative' or 'nversn' therapy that is based upon the assumptn that homosexualy per se is a mental disorr or based upon the a prri assumptn that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientatn. In 1997 APA produced a fact sheet on homosexual and bisexual issu, which stat that “there is no published scientific evince supportg the efficy of “reparative therapy” as a treatment to change one’s sexual orientatn.

The potential risks of “reparative therapy” are great and clu prsn, anxiety, and self-stctive behavr, sce therapist alignment wh societal prejudic agast homosexualy may rerce self-hatred already experienced by the patient. Many patients who have unrgone “reparative therapy” relate that they were accurately told that homosexuals are lonely, unhappy dividuals who never achieve acceptance or satisfactn.