I was 19, gay and ready to be ‘cured’ by nversn therapy | Fay | The Guardian

Contents:

• IT IS NOW 50 YEARS SCE GAY PEOPLE WERE “CURED"
• I WAS 19, GAY AND READY TO BE ‘CURED’ BY NVERSN THERAPY
• A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT OVER ATTEMPTS TO 'CURE' GAY PEOPLE
• CAN PEOPLE STOP BEG GAY?
• 5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY – REAL OR HOAX?
• ‘EX-GAY’ MEN FIGHT BACK AGAST VIEW THAT HOMOSEXUALY CAN’T BE CHANGED
• MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO SYSTEMATILLY TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT?

IT IS NOW 50 YEARS SCE GAY PEOPLE WERE “CURED"

Psychiatric diagnosg of homosexualy as a mental disorr began the 19th century, most promently the work of Richard von Krafft-Ebg, who thought was due to “generatn” of the nervo system—generacy beg a now-disproven medil theory of that era.

I WAS 19, GAY AND READY TO BE ‘CURED’ BY NVERSN THERAPY

All this changed the wake of the 1969 Stonewall rts New York Cy, an event that energized gay and lbian activists who believed psychiatric diagnosis to be a major ntributor to anti-homosexual social stigma. A 1971 panel, entled “Gay is Good” featured Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, and Ron Gold, who explaed to psychiatrists, many of whom were hearg for the first time, the stigma ed by the “homosexualy” diagnosis. H Anonymo, a “homosexual psychiatrist" who, given the realistic fear of adverse profsnal nsequenc for g out at that time, disguised his te inty om the dience and spoke of the discrimatn gay psychiatrists faced their own profsn.

A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT OVER ATTEMPTS TO 'CURE' GAY PEOPLE

Whout a medil or scientific ratnalizatn for discrimatn, bat about homosexualy gradually shifted away om medice and psychiatry and to the moral and polil realms of relign, ernment, the ary, the media, and tnal stutns. The reasong behd acceptance went like this: If homosexualy is no longer nsired an illns, if one do not lerally accept biblil prohibns agast , and if gay people are able and prepared to functn as productive cizens, then what is wrong wh beg gay?

The methods are cel and equently vlent, om applyg electric shocks while beg forced to watch gay porn, to md ntrol gam aimed at persuadg LGBT “patients” their sir are rooted dysfunctnal or “disempowerg” relatnships wh their LIA the msage was unequivol: homosexualy meant unhapps, isolatn and ath.

Like other gay teens, Conley went through the motns of havg a girliend as a way to “cure” himself, but he was also a vorac rear who found novels a unterweight to the Bible that helped expand the horizons of his world. There, she jok about an ia for a TV seri, Preachers’ Wiv Gone Wild, while he surreptly observ their handsome the ironi of nversn therapi such as LIA is the fact that they are n and managed largely by gay men who have been through the programme themselv, renounced their past and now seek to make others do the same. Conley characteris them by their “ex-gay s” which the rners of their lips “stretched beyond the lims of normalcy” such person was John Smid, former executive director of LIA and a gay man and Christian who would eventually adm that he’d “never met a man who experienced a change om homosexual to heterosexual”.

CAN PEOPLE STOP BEG GAY?

We were learng Step One of Love Actn’s 12-Step programme, a set of prcipl equatg the ss of fily, btialy, paedophilia and homosexualy to addictive behavr such as alholism or gamblg: a kd of Alholics Anonymo for what unsellors referred to as our ‘sexual viance’. Frd himself had explicly stated by 1935 that homosexualy was not an illns and strongly disuraged attempts to treat ; neverthels, by the 1950s, his theori were wily misappropriated by nservative Amerin and émigré psychiatrists vted reaffirmg the heterosexual, breadwner-homemaker hoehold the wake of World War II. Already by the 1960s, such cur had provoked ristance: April 1965, jt months after that TIME article ran, the Philalphia-based gay rights anizatn Jan ved Hadn to give a lecture on his rearch, only to surprise him wh fierce ristance om the dience.

5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

Gay activists would also claim a major victory December 1973, when the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn voted to remove “homosexualy” om the send edn of the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM-II), which meant that homosexualy was officially no longer nsired a disorr self.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY – REAL OR HOAX?

The diagnosis of homosexualy was immediately replaced by “sexual orientatn disturbance, ” renamed “ego-dystonic homosexualy” DSM-III, which was released 1980 unr the learship of Spzer and social worker Ja Williams. The urt refed to hear claims that homosexualy uld be cured om JONAH’s experts, who clu a social worker and clil stctor at Oh State Universy; a psychiatrist and preceptor at Massachetts College of Pharmacy and Health Scienc; and a former Universy of Toronto profsor of psychiatry.

Boy Erased, the new film about a young gay man subjected to a gelg regimen, borrg on abe, to “nvert” him to heterosexualy, is a stark remr that spe signifint civil rights gas and changg social norms, nversn therapy still exists.

‘EX-GAY’ MEN FIGHT BACK AGAST VIEW THAT HOMOSEXUALY CAN’T BE CHANGED

The oppose mp argu that gays are "born that way, " and th that sexual reorientatn therapy is effective, as well as cel and the latter perspective hs closer to the mark, the science of sexualy supports a more measured stance. There are no verified s of formerly gay people pletely riddg themselv of same-sex attractn, but do appear possible for some people who are predisposed to same-sex attractn to expand their sexual repertoire — velop attractns for oppose-sex partners as well, and even opt for the oppose sex exclively. As Diamond noted January the Archiv of Sexual Behavr, femal' sexual fluidy may emerge om the fdg that, across the board, they are sexually aroed by imag of both men and women (whereas men are typilly aroed only by members of their preferred sex) erotic plasticy may expla why women wh same-sex predisposns report better succs adjtg to heterosexual liftyl than gay men do.

Disregardg all evince that the ex-gay movement is credibly damagg to more than 90% of those who unrgo "treatment" (bee they clearly jt didn't believe God enough), Settg Captiv Free wants you to know that you were not "born this way. " Homosexualy is a s that you need to purge om your system, and the only way to do is to follow their three-parts-a-day the app is only downloadable om Google Play (iTun and the 69, 822+ people who petned them don't believe nversn therapy for some reason), there is an abridged versn available on the mistry’s webse.

Realize That Beg Homosexual Mak You Feel Alone Fet that we told you to shut yourself away om most of the world, and ignore the ia that maybe gay people feel so alone bee of the discrimatory and hateful attus that they face, helped by people like . 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. 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.

MY SO-CALLED EX-GAY LIFE

[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? 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. 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.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SYSTEMATILLY TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT?

In 2000, on the steps of the Los Altos stake center, gay Mormon Henry Stuart Matis, 32, shot and killed himself bee he uld not rencile his gayns wh his relign, acrdg to a 2010 San Jose Mercury News article that vered a vigil memoratg the 10-year anniversary of the event.

It may not be surprisg that Christian Coaln founr Pat Robertson and televangelist pastor Jerry Falwell, among many others, have supported programs signed to nvert homosexuals away om "s" and to the arms of God-fearg heterosexualy.

Back 1979, on Meet The Prs and untls other TV appearanc, Masters and Johnson touted their book, Homosexualy Perspective—a 14-year study of more than 300 homosexual men and women—hopg to build on their groundbreakg sex studi of heterosexuals that had helped igne Ameri's sexual revolutn. (The 12 s of attempted "nversn" were for men and women who had always believed they were homosexual and were troubled by , while the 55 "reversn" s were people who believed their homosexualy was more fleetg. At worst, she said, "Bill was beg creative those days" the pilg of the "gay nversn" se he died 2001 Masters felt nfint their book would be embraced eventually by the medil muny, not jt by purveyors of relig or polil agendas.