Random Awful Things Done in the Name of Conversion Therapy (16 items)

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  (#13) Aversive Conditioning

  Another form of dubious psychology used in gay conversion is that of aversive conditioning, where painful or unpleasant sensations are introduced into a gay person so they associate these sensations with homosexuality. Techniques used in aversive conditioning have included use of nausea-inducing drugs while watching gay pornography, the introduction of disgusting smells, or having to describe instances of sexual humiliation.
  
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  (#10) Medication

  There is no evidence that any kind of medication or pharmaceutical has any effect on a person's sexual orientation. Despite this, conversion practitioners continue prescribing everything from anti-depressants to Viagra to "cure" being gay.

  The 2014 suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old whose parents put her on Prozac and forced her to attend “Christian therapists,” is one of the terrible tragedies that spurred President Obama to speak about ending gay conversion therapy in America once and for all.

  Even after Alcorn died, her parents continued to refer to her as "him" and refused to acknowledge that she was transgender.
  
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  (#9) Physical Torture

  Three South African men, Erich Calitz, 25; Nicolas Van Der Walt, 19; and Raymond Buys, 15, all died as a result of abuse and starvation at a gay conversion camp there over a five year period. Among the indignities to which they were subjected were beatings, being chained to their beds, and being forced to eat their own waste.

  The three weren’t even confirmed to be gay or to have come out to anyone, only that their families felt they had “feminine traits.” Two Echo Wild Game Rangers camp employees were arrested and charged with murder for the death of Raymond Buys.
  
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  (#14) The Work of NARTH

  The “trade organization” for gay conversion therapy is the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. NARTH, founded in 1992, claims it’s a non-denominational and secular organization dedicated to telling “the truth” about homosexuality being a mental disorder.

  While not involved in personally trying to "cure" individual gay people, NARTH funds and legitimizes this work. It has allowed unlicensed therapists and counselors to work under its professional umbrella and has given awards and cash donations to a number of discredited researchers, funding dubious scientific work in the service of gay conversion. It has also publicly equated homosexuality with pedophilia. NARTH had its tax exempt status revoked in 2012 because of a paperwork snafu, and a number of its “President’s Award” winners have broken with the organization.
  
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  (#11) Chemical Castration

  As seen in the film The Imitation Game, British cryptographer Alan Turing was found guilty of homosexual acts and forced to undergo chemical castration, a form of conversion therapy popular in the '50s.

  Turing eventually committed suicide, and the codebreaker who played a vital role in turning the tide of World War II remained a criminal for decades, until he was recently pardoned for his “crimes.”
  
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  (#4) Advising "Patients" to Disconnect from Loved Ones

  26-year-old Mathew Shurka underwent six years of conversion therapy, including being forced to see unlicensed therapists, being given unprescribed Viagra pills by his father, and being put through ineffective aversion treatments.

  As part of this, he was forbidden from seeing his mother and sisters for over three years, to help “rid” him of “effeminate behavior.” The treatments failed, and Shurka is now a spokesman for the National Center for Lesbian Rights’s anti-conversion therapy campaign.

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