Homosexuality: The ethical challenge.

Abstract

It is suggested that behavior therapists have not attended sufficiently to the factors influencing the desire of some homosexuals to change their sexual orientation. Therapists of all persuasions constantly make decisions for their voluntary clients, encompassing both the goals of therapy and the means to be used to achieve those goals. A perusal of the psychotherapy and behavior therapy literature indicates that therapists generally regard homosexuality as undesirable, if not pathological. Since professionals are unlikely to work on treatment procedures unless they sec a problem, it is probable that the very existence of changc-of-orienlation programs strengthens societal prejudices against homosexuality and contributes to the self-hate and embarrassment that are determinants of the "voluntary" desire by some homosexuals lo become heterosexual. It is therefore proposed that we stop offering therapy lo help homosexuals change and concentrate instead on improving the quality of their interpersonal relationships. Alternatively, more energy could be devoted to sexual enhancement procedures in general, regardless of the adult gender mix.

Queer Diagnoses: Parallels and Contrasts in the History of Homosexuality, Gender Variance, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual

“…They claimed a 27% ''cure'' rate with psychoanalysis, but when challenged a decade later to produce a ''cured'' patient, they were unable to do so (Tripp, 1987). 27 Although practitioners of aversion therapy in the 1960s also claimed ''cures,'' by the 1970s behavioral therapists admitted that few of their patients managed to stay ''converted'' for very long (Bancroft, 1974;Davison, 1976).…”

Narrative, psychology and the politics of sexual identity in the United States: from ‘sickness’ to ‘species’ to ‘subject’

“…Davison (1976) argued that the willingness of psychotherapists to try to modify sexual desire was related to their own views of homosexuality as pathology and served to support societal stigma. He suggested that mental health professions only added to the distress experienced by same-sex-attracted individuals as a consequence of societal prejudice and called for an end to 'change-of-orientation' clinical and research programmes.…”

Conceptual and ethical issues in therapy for the psychological problems of gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals

“…Little if any time was spent by mainstream therapists, regardless of theoretical orientation, encouraging health professionals to change their biases against homosexuality and foster gay-affirmative attitudes and behavior in patients who happened to be homosexual, and to treat the problems that homosexual individuals have rather than the so-called problem of homosexuality. The question for me many years ago (Davison, 1974(Davison, , 1976(Davison, , 1978(Davison, , 1991 was (and still is) the following: How can therapists honestly speak of nonprejudice when they participate in therapy regimens that, by their very existence and regardless of their effectiveness, condone a societal prejudice and perhaps also impede social change? The question of whether one can alter another's sexual preference is separate from the political and ethical issue of whether one should, though this distinction often has gone unappreciated by critics of my position (e.g., Sturgis & Adams, 1978).…”