Gay Conversn Therapy's Disturbg 19th-Century Origs | HISTORY

Contents:

• 5 THGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• CAN SCTN MAKE STRAIGHT MEN GAY?
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
• IS IT POSSIBLE TO SYSTEMATILLY TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT?
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS
• NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' IS A HUMANIZG LOOK AT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY SURVIVORS
• MY HELLISH YOUTH GAY CONVERSN THERAPY AND HOW I GOT OUT

5 THGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

A therapy that claims to nvert gay people to heterosexuals is beg tted urt wh two new s, one of which seeks to sue unselors offerg the therapy and the other seekg to fend nversn therapy, as is known, supposedly helps gay people overe same-sex attractns.

[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. [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. In an April 2012 say The Amerin Prospect, wrer Gabriel Arana scrib his "ex-gay" therapy experience.

CAN SCTN MAKE STRAIGHT MEN 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 Tim. Why psychologists say nversn therapy don't workHomosexualy 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.

The sire to turn gay people straight go way back. 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. "Other psychologists throughout the early mid-1900s believed homosexualy uld be changed and remend a variety of treatments.

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.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

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. 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. 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.

"I believe I owe the gay muny an apology for my study makg unproven claims of the efficy of reparative therapy, " Spzer Stephanie Pappas on Twter @sipappas or LiveScience @livcience. Can sctn make straight men gay?

J Homosex.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SYSTEMATILLY TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT?

The article rais the qutn of changg sexual preference: Can a man whose past sexual practice has been almost exclively heterosexual change his practice to homosexual after beg sced by another man? To those who believe that homosexual preference is homosexual orientatn, an nate blogil predisposn, the answer is a roundg "no. " Contrary to this rponse, the thor prents three s which the men swch om heterosexual to homosexual relatnships (exclively two s) by means of a sexual enunter iated by another man.

The thor creds part of the change to the gay liberatn movement which rcued homosexual sire om the hidn, forbidn, and shameful.

The evince that the men experienced a genue change sexual preference, shows that life-long, exclive homosexualy, as articulated by gay rhetoric, is more a statement about the culture which occurs than the "sence" of homosexualy. Gay liberatn and g out Mexi.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS

AIDS knowledge and sexual behavr among Mexin gay and bisexual men. The Frdian nstctn of sexualy: the gay foundatns of heterosexualy and straight homophobia.

Youth, inty, and homosexualy: the changg shape of sexual life ntemporary Brazil. The formatn of homosexual inti.

19), New Jersey beme the send state, after California, to sign a ban on therapy that claims to nvert gay people to heterosexual. The California law is held up feral urts on first amendment other stat — Massachetts and New York — have troduced siar bans their state legislatur nversn therapy, as is known, supposedly helps gay people overe same-sex attractns. Prr to the ban that was signed to law today, gay nversn therapy was already facg legal challenge New Jersey.

NETFLIX'S 'PRAY AWAY' IS A HUMANIZG LOOK AT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY SURVIVORS

[5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]Two s challenged California's law banng nversn therapy for mors, which was signed to law September 2012. 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 he qu nversn therapy after his therapist had him strip down and touch himself to "rennect wh his masculy, " acrdg to the New York Tim.

MY HELLISH YOUTH GAY CONVERSN THERAPY AND HOW I GOT OUT

In June 2013, Exod Internatnal shut down and former Print Alan Chambers publicly apologized for the harm he had ed to the gay muny. "I believe I owe the gay muny an apology for my study makg unproven claims of the efficy of reparative therapy, " Spzer Stephanie Pappas on Twter @sipappas or Tia Ghose on Twterand Google+. 10 Milton Gay Rights History5 Controversial Mental Health TreatmentsThe Sex Quiz: Myths, Taboos and Bizarre FactsCopyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork pany.