The Tri-State Freethinkers supports the Banning of Conversion Therapy, especially for minors. Conversion therapy should be banned everywhere but currently, most states and cities allow this practice to be performed. Not only has it been shown to be ineffective, but can cause serious problems. People that go through it are more likely to develop depression, anxiety, and more likely to be suicidal.
Conversion therapy is the pseudo-scientific practice of trying to change an individual’s sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual interventions. There is virtually no reliable evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and medical bodies warn that conversion therapy practices are ineffective and potentially harmful. Nevertheless, advocates and proponents do provide anecdotal reports of people who claim some degree of success in becoming heterosexual. Medical, scientific, and government organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom have expressed concern over the validity, efficacy, and ethics of conversion therapy. Various jurisdictions in Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas have passed laws against conversion therapy.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) opposes psychiatric treatment “based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the prior assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation” and describes attempts to change sexual orientation by practitioners as unethical. It also states that debates over the integration of gay and lesbian people have obscured science “by calling into question the motives and even the character of individuals on both sides of the issue” and that the advancement of conversion therapy may cause social harm by disseminating unscientific views about sexual orientation. United States Surgeon General David Satcher in 2001 issued a report stating that “there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed”.