Can gay be cured
Can Psychiatrists Really "Cure" Homosexuality?
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A British survey published last month found that one in 25 therapists would assist gay and pansexual patients attempting to convert to heterosexuality. That's despite the fact that many medical groups, including the American Medical Association, have for years condemned such practices, saying they don't work and can actually result in harm.
It may not be surprising that Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson and televangelist pastor Jerry Falwell, among many others, have supported programs designed to convert homosexuals away from "sin" and into the arms of God-fearing heterosexuality. But what may surprise you is one of the research sources cited by the Catholic Medical Association in 2006 when it declared that science "counters the myth that same-sex attraction is genetically predetermined and unchangeable, and offers hope for prevention and treatmen
It is dangerous to be different, and certain kinds of difference are especially risky. Race, disability, and sexuality are among the many ways people are socially marked that can make them vulnerable. The museum recently collected materials to document gay-conversion therapy (also called "reparative therapy")—and these objects allow curators like myself to explore how genuine people experience these risks. With the help of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., Garrard Conley gave us the workbook he used in 2004 at a now defunct religious gay-conversion camp in Tennessee, called "Love in Action." We also received materials from John Smid, who was camp director. Conley's memoir of his time there, Boy Erased, chronicles how the camp's conversion therapy followed the idea that being gay was an addiction that could be treated with methods similar to those for abating drug, alcohol, gambling, and other addictions. While there, Conley spiraled into depression and suicidal thoughts. Conley eventually escaped. Smid eventually left Love in Action and married a man.
In the United States, responses to gay, queer, queer, lesbian, bisexual person, transsexual, and gender non-conforming
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by Jack Drescher, MD, member of the LGBTQ Committee of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry
2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the vote of the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its Diagnostic Manual. That decision, and the reasoning behind it, was a culture-changing event. It led to an essential shift in mental health practices as clinicians stopped asking questions like “What causes homosexuality?” and “How can we change it?” and focused instead on the health and mental-health needs of LGBTQ patient populations. 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1974 referendum among APA members that supported the APA leadership's decision for remove the diagnosis.
Why Change Was Needed
In 1973...:
- Homosexual deed was criminalized in most U.S. states.
- Openly gay men and women were banned from serving in the U.S. military. If a gay person in the military came out or was outed by someone else, they could be court-martialed and discharged.
- Being male lover was grounds for being fired from a U.S. government employment. This is what happened to Frank Kameny, who, in 1957, lost his job as an astronomer with the U.S. government after it was