United Nations calls for an end to debunked anti-LGBTQ conversion 'therapy' practices

Daily Kos Staff

Sunday June 14, 2020 · 8:17 AM PDT

2020/06/14 · 08:17

Demonstrators in favour of LGBT rights rally outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, October 8, 2019, as the Court holds oral arguments in three cases dealing with workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

In an important new report, the United Nations (U.N.) calls for nations around the globe to finally end the archaic, discredited practice known as “conversion therapy,” a “therapy” that has been denounced by the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the American Medical Association (AMA), among others, which aims to change one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Globally, the horrifying practice is banned for minors in only five countries: Germany, Brazil, Malta, Ecuador, and Taiwan.

As a review, it’s often minors that are subject to conversion therapy, though some adults undergo it as well. Why minors? Generally, because they are still subject to the whims of parents or guardians; if parents want their LGBTQ (or even assumed LGBTQ, or questioning) adolescent or teenager to conform to heterosexuality or being cisgender, they may force the minor into conversion therapy in an effort to force them. As pointed out in the report, conversion therapy is often quite lucrative for the people providing it; the report claims that some providers in the U.S., for example, charge more than $25,000 per “dose” of the debunked practice.

If all of this sounds horrible, that’s because it is. It’s also still legal in much of the United States, as states decide individually whether or not to ban the practice. Virginia, for example, became only the 20th state (including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico) to ban the practice for minors in April. This ban also made Virginia the first Southern state to ban the widely debunked practice. In addition to sates and territories, about 50 cities and counties ban the practice for youth

A U.N. program officer for OutRight Action International, Sahar Moazami, stressed to NBC News in an interview that no country can claim they’re “the best” on this issue. “In all countries, we are facing violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” she told the outlet.

The report notes that “attempts to pathologize and erase the identity of individuals, negate their existence” as LGBTQ people, and “provoke self-loathing have profound consequences on their physical and psychological integrity and well-being.” This assertion is backed up in numerous studies, suggesting that, in the long-term, conversion therapy is linked to higher rates of suicidality, addiction, self-destructive behavior, and mental health struggles, like depression and anxiety.

Close to 700,000 adults in the U.S. have experienced conversion therapy, with about half of those people experiencing it as minors, according to a 2018 study.

United Nations calls for an end to debunked anti-LGBTQ conversion 'therapy' practices

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