Don’t pay for “sexual-orientation conversion” or “gay cure,” and don’t send a family member

An American Psychological Association task force that reviewed the research says such conversion does not change orientation and may harm people. In one U.S. survey, people who had undergone conversion had nearly 90% more lifetime suicidal thoughts. In China a psychiatric hospital forcibly admitted a man under “sexual preference disorder”; a court found infringement and awarded 5000 yuan.

Cost

No money. What you save is fees for conversion outfits, psychology clinics, and “quit being gay” camps. The hard part is family insisting on sending someone.

Benefit

The American Psychological Association’s 2009 task-force report says efforts to change sexual orientation are “unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm.” For sending minors into coercive or residential conversion programs, the report advises that neither parents nor children consider it. A U.S. nationally representative survey of 1518 sexual-minority adults found about 7% had undergone conversion, about eight in ten of those by religious practitioners. After subtracting age, adverse childhood experiences, and similar factors, those who had undergone conversion had lifetime suicidal ideation OR 1.92 (95% CI 1.01–3.64, about 90% higher). Planned suicide OR 1.75 (1.01–3.06). Suicide attempts with no or mild injury OR 1.88 (1.01–3.50). Another study interviewed 245 young people aged 21 to 25. Of those not converted in adolescence, 22.0% had attempted suicide. When parents themselves tried to change the child’s orientation, 48.1%. When parents also sent the child to a therapist or religious figure, 62.8%. WHO’s disease classification ICD-10 states: “Sexual orientation by itself is not to be regarded as a disorder.” In 2017 a court in Yicheng District, Zhumadian, Henan, heard a case: a psychiatric hospital forcibly admitted a man under “sexual preference disorder.” The court held that his “condition was mild, with no suicide, assault, destruction of property, or similar behaviour or danger, and he did not meet the conditions for compulsory treatment.” The hospital was ordered to apologize publicly and pay 5000 yuan in mental-distress damages (U.S. / China).

Notes

Controversy. Sullins 2022 reanalyzed the same data after subtracting suicidal thoughts that already existed before conversion. That way, conversion and suicidal thoughts were no longer positively associated (OR 0.44, 0.20–0.94). Sullins’s institution opposes homosexuality; the original authors also published a reply. So how large the harm is remains disputed, but “it does not change” has no opposing evidence seen. Grade B because harm figures all come from surveys that recall afterward. In law, inpatient treatment is voluntary in principle; only severe mental disorder plus danger of harm to self or others allows compulsory admission. Psychological counsellors may not deliver psychotherapy. Deliberately sending someone who does not have a mental disorder into hospital treatment brings liability for damages. In 2014 a man was hypnotized and given electric shocks to “treat” homosexuality at Chongqing Xinyu Piaoxiang Psychological Counselling Centre and later sued. Beijing Haidian court ordered a public apology and compensation for economic loss. Reports say the judgment stated homosexuality is not a mental illness and that promising a cure was false advertising. Only The Paper’s reporting of the case is available; the original judgment was not found on the court’s official site. People long distressed by this may go to psychiatry or clinical psychology, aiming to ease distress. What families do after a child comes out: Section 30, Item 15 (when a child says they like the same sex). Beneficiaries are you and family.

Sources · 8

1. American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation (2009). Report of the Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/therapeutic-respons…
2. Blosnich JR, Henderson ER, Coulter RWS, Goldbach JT, Meyer IH. (2020). Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Suicide Ideation and Attempt Among Sexual Minority Adults, United States, 2016–2018. American Journal of Public Health, 110(7), 1024–1030. doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305637
3. Ryan C, Toomey RB, Diaz RM, Russell ST. (2020). Parent-Initiated Sexual Orientation Change Efforts With LGBT Adolescents: Implications for Young Adult Mental Health and Adjustment. Journal of Homosexuality, 67(2), 159–173. doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2018.1538407
4. World Health Organization. ICD-10 Version:2019, F66 Psychological and behavioural disorders associated with sexual development and orientation. icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en#/F66
5. 全国人大常委会 (2018 年修正). 精神卫生法（第二十三、三十、七十八条）. flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=2c909fdd678bf1790167…
6. 广西壮族自治区人民检察院网站转载新京报 (2017). 驻马店「同性恋强制治疗案」终审. gx.jcy.gov.cn/jblm/shgz/201709/t20170920_2068…
7. 澎湃新闻 (2014-08-02). 首例“矫正同性恋”案在京审理，诊所被指有“三大罪状”（澎湃见习记者 周辰，实习生 尹瑞涛）. thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1259405（网页存档 web.archive.org/web/20261005044046/https://ww…）；澎湃新闻 (2014-12-21). 中国进入多元性别时代：李银河“出柜”与电击中心败诉（澎湃新闻记者 周哲）. thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1287582（网页存档 web.archive.org/web/20261005044046/https://ww…）；反方：Sullins DP. (2022). Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Do Not Increase Suicide: Correcting a False Research Narrative. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51, 3377–3393. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02408-2
8. Blosnich JR, Coulter RWS, Henderson ER, et al. (2023). Correcting a False Research Narrative: A Commentary on Sullins (2022). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52(3), 885–888. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02521-2