Almost all early discussions of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) persons assumed that such orientations indicated profound psychopathology. Caprio (1954), for example, considered same-sex orientations to be indicative of deep-seated and unresolved neuroses. Bergler ( 1956) believed that gay men and lesbians suffered from a neurotic disease stemming from their striving for defeat, humiliation, and rejection. Socarides ( 1968) spared no hyperbole when he wrote that being lesbian or gay: is a masquerade of life in which certain psychic energies are neutralized and held in a somewhat quiescent state. However, the unconscious manifestations of hate, destructiveness, incest, and fear are always threatening to break through. Instead of union, cooperation, solace, stimulation, enrichment, healthy challenge, and fulfillment, there are only destruction, mutual defeat, exploitation of the partner and the 309

This study examined the potential influence of religiosity, sexual orientation identity development, and internalized homonegativity on the propensity to seek conversion therapy to change one’s sexual orientation. An Internet sample of 76 women and 130 men who were gay-identified, lesbian-identified, same-sex attracted, and “questioning” was studied. Results indicated that two types of religious orientations, intrinsic and quest, predicted a propensity to seek conversion therapy, although in different directions. Further more, internalized homonegativity fully mediated the relationships between religious orientation and propensity to seek conversion therapy. Additionally, there was a significant inverse relationship between sexual orientation identity development and propensity to seek conversion therapy. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

This article outlines the ethical considerations for sexual orientation conversion therapy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. There are numerous reasons not to acquiesce to a client's desire to change his or her sexual orientation. There is no empirical evidence to show that conversion therapy is effective in reorienting a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person to heterosexuality. Moreover, these types of treatments perpetuate society's stance that homosexuality is an inferior state and assume that the client's struggle is pathological and not in reaction to the sociopolitical context in which lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons exist. Guidelines for responding to a client seeking reorientation and evaluating one's biases regarding lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are presented. Future research implications are discussed.