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| The Obama Administration has come out in favor of a ban on conversion therapy. Image: Shutterstock |
Last Thursday, the Obama Administration responded to a “We
the People” petition on the White House’s website calling for a ban on
conversion therapy, the practice of trying to “cure” LGBTQ individuals, often
teens.
Named after Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgendered girl
who committed suicide on December 27, 2014, the petition for “Leelah’s Law” included
nearly 121,000 signatures.
“The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that
conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither
medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm,” wrote
Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett.
“As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this
Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”
The American Psychological Association removed homosexuality
as a mental disorder from the DSM in 1973.
In 1998 the organization officially opposed any psychiatric treatment to
“cure” or “repair” LGBTQ individuals.
At present only California, New Jersey, and Washington, DC
officially ban conversion therapy, though fifteen other states have prohibition
legislation in the works.
Advocates of conversion therapy argue that such a law would
be a disservice, however. “You’re
closing off one solution and not the others that might work for some youth,” said
Rich Wyler, director of People Can Change, a nonprofit that supports conversion
therapy for homosexual men.
Chris Doyle, director of the International Healing
Foundation, which supports families questioning the sexual orientation of their
members, suggested that the counselors who worked with Leelah Alcorn and other
LGBTQ teens who later committed suicide weren’t properly trained. Doyle said that participating in such therapy
should be a choice.
Conversion therapy often involves using religion, hypnosis,
shame, and electric shock therapy to change patients’ sexual desires. A growing number of professional
organizations have discredited the therapy for being based on shaky science and
for treating homosexuality as a mental disorder.
In the end, however, future legal action may be based on the
science—or lack thereof—surrounding the issue.
“My hope is that when a transgender person’s struggle is acknowledged by
one of the most recognizable figures in the world [the President of the United
States], it positively changes the way they view themselves,” said
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender
Equality. “The pseudo-science that
propels conversion therapy cannot match the self-acceptance that comes with
this kind of change.”
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