Homosexual Reparative Therapy

Abstract

Homosexual reparative therapy (HRT) is a therapeutic approach used by some conversion therapists and “ex‐gay” religious counselors today to treat homosexuality (and non‐normative gender identity and expression) as if it is a psychological disorder. Originating in the United States, reparative therapists and ex‐gay organizations have sought to disseminate reparative therapy and the etiology of homosexuality that informs it to many countries beyond the United States. Reparative therapy has been discredited by major medical and mental health organizations in the United States and elsewhere. Importantly, reparative therapy is also a political movement. Reparative therapists (as well as ex‐gay and conservative Christian organizations) have used the ideology that informs the reparative etiology of homosexuality as a political tool to justify the oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States and abroad, seeking to undermine legal family recognition for same‐sex couples and LGBT parents, to prevent or reverse legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and in many cases to justify or defend laws that criminalize private, adult, consenting sexual relations between people of the same sex.

Putting Lesbians in Their Place: Deconstructing Ex-Gay Discourses of Female Homosexuality in a Global Context

“…Prominent U.S. medical associations oppose sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) and discourage health professionals from attempting them, which they consider unethical and potentially harmful [9]. Despite this, and a fledgling movement in the U.S. to ban licensed professional counselors from attempting to change the sexual orientation of minors, current public policy in the U.S. and in most countries around the world permit therapists and religious counselors to practice SOCE with few barriers or consequences [135]. It is beyond our scope to elaborate where and how such practices are regulated or banned.…”