Many people try quit alcohol or tobacco because it is harmful to one's health. There is also another type of "quitting" that has been encouraged by certain individual religious figures: being homosexual. For a number of years, there have been those who have been encouraged homosexuals to become heterosexual through what is called conversion "therapy." Conversion "therapy" is the idea of changing one's sexuality through psychological or spiritual means. Methods of conversion "therapy" range from "pray the gay away" to electroshock therapy. I put the word "therapy" in quotes because I'm of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with being gay, especially when dealing with the idiotic argument of "homosexuality is unnatural" or realizing that G-d doesn't even have an issue with it. Ergo, there is nothing to cure. Even if there were something to cure, the definition of the word "therapy" implies that it can be cured. Some things we can change and others we cannot: that's life. The first question to answer is whether something like sexuality can be changed and whether conversion "therapy" helps.
It is more than the anecdotal evidence I have from some friends and acquaintances that conversion "therapy" is completely bunk and harmful. The fact of the matter is that conversion "therapy" is a pseudoscientific practice with no real evidence to back up its assertion that sexuality can be changed. There is one study stating that it could potentially have some positive effect (Nicolosi et al., 2000), and even that study has more than its fair share of flaws (e.g., only a minority of participants claimed success, it was only based on self-reporting). Conversely, Columbia University identified 12 studies showing that conversion "therapy" is ineffective and/or harmful.
There is no evidence that conversion "therapy" helps. There is, however, plenty of evidence that conversion "therapy" is harmful, and leads to increased likelihood of depression, suicide, anxiety, and social isolation. The American Psychological Association wrote a lengthy and substantive report on the topic in 2009 and concluded the same thing. It's not just the APA. You also have the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the British Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, the Australian Psychological Society, the World Psychiatric Association, the Pan-American Health Association, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). There was a time that the mental health profession believed that homosexuality was a mental disorder. The good news is that we know better. We know that bisexuality and homosexuality are natural and healthy variations of sexuality.
And if the consensus of mainstream mental health organizations is not enough, how about Robert Spitzer? Spitzer was a professor of psychiatry that was famous (or rather infamous) in this field. He was the one who led the fight against having homosexuality declassified as a mental disorder back in the 1970s. He was also the one who released a report that was used to "prove" that conversion "therapy" could "cure" homosexuals (Spitzer, 2003). Not only did he retract his findings, but he issued an apology for all the harm he caused. And then there's another great story. After 37 years of trying to "convert" gay people, the well-known ex-gay therapy group Exodus International closed its doors in 2013 and apologized to the LGBT community for the harm it caused. And for added fun, I would like anti-gay individuals who assume that sexuality is a choice do some serious reflection and ask themselves "At what point did I choose to become heterosexual?" Because if those anti-gay individuals were intellectually honest, they would realize that they did not choose their sexuality. To summarize thus far, conversion "therapy" is devoid of scientific backing, and it is proven to harm those who are subjected to it.
Knowing what we know about conversion "therapy," the question is whether the government should step in and ban it. Although I consider myself libertarian, this question is trickier than initially anticipated. Conversion "therapy" is as much quackery as being against vaccines or saying that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are unhealthy. At the same time, we have an opt-out system for vaccination and we allow people to choose whether they want to eat GMOs or organic food.
On the one hand, the empirical research shows that it is consumer fraud to sell the idea that one could change their sexuality vis-à-vis sexual orientation change efforts (SOCEs). On the other hand, I believe that adults should make their own decisions, no matter how much I disagree with it. Research shows that having children before marriage is a bad idea, but if you want to mess up your life, it's yours to mess up. The same goes with smoking cigarettes, not wearing a bicycle helmet, eating unhealthy food, or buying lottery tickets. If we are to have a [relatively] free society, you have to be free to make poor life choices and even partake in actions that could cause self-harm. I think that, regardless of whether counseling is considered a First Amendment issue or not.
On the other other hand, the adults who enter conversion "therapy" tend to be in religious communities that stigmatize and demonize homosexuality and homosexuals. Take ultra-Orthodox Jews who happen to be homosexual. They can go to a place like JONAH (which, thank G-d, was sued for consumer fraud, ordered to pay a settlement, and was shut down so it could never harm another soul again) or they can leave their community. While that sounds easy, it's not. In ultra-Orthodox communities, Jewish children are typically not brought up with a secular education or life skills that would help them live in the real world. Some of them converse only in Yiddish, so it makes choice seem like more of an illusion than anything else. I'm sure homosexuals who are part of non-Jewish religious communities have similar impediments to making an actual choice. Even with that caveat, I still think adults should have the option to enter it, as long as they have the ability to opt out at any point. Plus, there is no ex ante manner in which to filter out the sorts of adults that I just mentioned in order to prevent such harm.
With regards to banning conversion "therapy" for adults, I am legitimately torn between my libertarian principles and seeing the harm it so clearly causes. However, the libertarian Reason Magazine brings up a good point: It was not too long ago when homosexuals were erroneously considered to be mentally deranged predators. Based on the logic of the current conversion "therapy" bans, it would have been perfectly acceptable for the government to have banned any therapist from trying to encourage homosexuals to accept and act upon their sexuality. The state of Tennessee actually tried banning teachers from teaching about homosexuality as recent as 2013. The anti-gay bigotry that permeates throughout much of American history should remind us why government should not control cultural discussions in such a manner.
Children are also another complicated case. I bring this up because a study from the Williams Institute, which was released just last week, shows how 20,000 youth currently between the ages of 13 and 17 will be exposed to this fraud by the time they turn 18. And that doesn't count the 700,000 U.S. adults who have previously been exposed to conversion "therapy" (ibid.). While children are human beings and deserving of respect, they do not quite possess the mens rea to fully make their own decisions. Something tells me that a teenager who is struggling with their sexuality would seldom, if ever, would choose to opt for something that horrific. Looking at recent conversion "therapy" bans, they are confined to mental health professionals on the job (e.g., does not ban non-licensed religion based conversion efforts), as well as the "therapy" being providing to minors. I actually came across a libertarian arguing for conversion "therapy" bans based on the current state licensing structure. Since therapists have to undergo licensing, it is a lot easier to regulate conversion "therapy" than it is some other harmful thing a parent could subject their child to, such as corporal punishment.
At the end of it all, my opinion is twofold. For adults, I reluctantly opine that adults should be allowed to partake in conversion "therapy" if they so choose, as long as there is a clear way to opt out. As for children, I have no problem having conversion "therapy" bans for minors. Even if the parents believe they are acting in their best interest of their homosexual child, they should still not be allowed to subject their child to such cruelty. Yes, it is true that Gallup and Pew Research findings show there are still a considerable minority of Americans who believe that being gay is a choice or can be altered. However, the good market trend is that conversion "therapy" is being more and more discredited as time goes on and is falling out of practice, as it should be. I look forward to the day that it nothing more than a moment in history in which we shake our heads and wonder what people were thinking in believing in such nonsense. Until then, banning conversion "therapy" for children is the best we can do in the meantime while still preserving our freedoms.
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