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

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  (#8) Taking a Cold Shower

  This is another bizarre modern technique to "cure" being gay, could something as simple as taking a cold shower really work? That's the theory put forth by Hong Kong psychiatrist Hong Kwai-wah, chairman of the Exodus International-linked New Creation Association, who suggested taking cold showers and prayer could wash away same-sex attraction.
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  (#15) Mystic "Healing"

  Cambodian LGBTQ teens are seen as possessed by “bad spirits" and often subjected to the machinations of a traditional shaman called a Kru Khmer. These untrained "traditional medicine" practitioners do everything from chant to hitting with bamboo to, in some cases, burning the teen's hand or back.

  Homosexuality is in a quasi-legal area in Cambodia, being neither legal nor illegal - while Buddhism is fairly  tolerant of alternative lifestyles. However, traditional family structures and deep-seeded social mores in Cambodia often leave teens at the mercy of these quacks.
  
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  (#1) Electroshock Therapy

  In its early days, gay conversion therapy was carried out in a manner more akin to torture than therapy. A number of brutal techniques were used in attempts to “convert” gay people into straight people, and these continued well into the 1970s. Chief among these was electroshock therapy, used to short out certain brain pathways and make the patient "forget" they were gay. This had virtually no effect on patients.
  
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  (#16) Sexual Abuse

  In March 2018, a story broke involving regarding gay conversion therapist Dr. Melvyn Iscove. Despite the fact Iscove had long claimed homosexuality was a disease that could be overcome, he had been engaging in various sexual acts with his clients since the 1990s and early 2000s. Two male clients came forward to say Iscove had abused them in their 20s and claimed Iscove engaged in inappropriate contact with them during therapy sessions after they had confessed to having gay thoughts.  A Toronto court found Iscove guilty of sexual abuse due to these and other actions. 
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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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