Forty-two years after the American Psychology Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, the government finally released a report against gay conversion therapy for minors.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration concluded gay conversation therapy can psychologically harm minors because it’s based on the premise there’s something wrong with being LGBT .
“Conversion therapy perpetuates outdated views of gender roles and identities as well as the negative stereotype that being a sexual or gender minority or identifying as LGBTQ is an abnormal aspect of human development,” the authors of the report wrote. “Most importantly, it may put young people at risk of serious harm.”
Really? Making minors with unsupportive parents try to repress themselves is harmful? Thank you for the new information no one with half a brain could conclude.
LGBT minors have some of the highest suicide rates in the nation. San Francisco State University found LGBT minors rejected by their parents or guardians were eight times more likely to attempt suicide than those accepted by their parents.
They’re also six times more likely to
report high levels of depression, three times more likely to use illegal drugs and three times more likely to be at risk for HIV and STDs.
LGBT minors are some of the most vulnerable people out there. They already feel isolated and different from their peers. Saturating their time with adults who treat them like they have an incurable disease can have devastating effects.
Other minority groups can seek solace with families. LGBT people can’t always do that. My straight parents can’t empathize with me when religious people tell me I’m going to Hell. They don’t know what it’s like to be rejected for something out of their control.
Granted, my parents always support and love me, and the small amount of discrimination I go through as a gay man is nowhere near the problems black Americans face. My point isn’t to belittle the plight of others, but to demonstrate the lack of built-in support.
The report against conversion therapy also found many of the teenagers attempted suicide. Others struggled for years with self-hatred or loss of sexual feelings. These minors are already at risk for suicide and anxiety because of their hostile family environment. Conversion therapy amplifies their mental health problems.
Most psychological organizations are against conversion therapy because being gay isn’t considered a mental disorder. The APA reviewed some gay conversion cases in 2007 and couldn’t find any person who changed their sexual orientation because of the conversion therapy.
Because psychological organizations don’t approve gay conversion therapy, there aren’t any guides on how to conduct the “treatment.” There’s no standardized metric of success either; conversion “therapists” rely mostly on unsuccessful experimental treatment.
Based on all the evidence, conversion therapy is nothing short of torture. It’s sickening how parents can get away with such psychological abuse in the name of their religion or bigotry.
These youths need therapy, but not for their sexual orientation. They need counseling and psychological evaluations to overcome their abusive parents. Mostly, LGBT youth need a loving home and accepting parents.
Cody Sibley is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Opelousas, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter at @CodySibley.