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

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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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  (#2) Surgery on the Unwilling

  Among the horrors of the early days of treating homosexuality were a number of surgeries performed on both willing and unwilling patients. These included procedures such as hysterectomy, ovariectomy, clitoridectomy, physical castration, vasectomy, pudic nerve surgery, and lobotomy.

  Many of these treatments were performed under the guise of sterilizing “degenerates” and taking them out of the gene pool – a socially acceptable form of eugenics.
  
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  (#3) Quack Psychology

  Conversion therapy has advanced numerous pseudoscientific ideas in the field of psychotherapy, some of which have been debunked for decades. Some of these include watching heterosexual pornography, accusing patients' parents of being overbearing or abusive and advocating boys distance themselves from female friends. 

  Later attempts at gay conversion through therapy have involved therapists abusing the trust of their patients by forcing them to perform sexual acts in order to “reclaim” their orientation. Mainstream professional organizations related to psychology have rejected all of these techniques.
  
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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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  (#5) Exorcisms

  While not a therapy per se, one of the most extreme modern practices of gay conversion is the debunked and dangerous practice of exorcism. In 2009, Manifested Glory Ministries was sharply criticized when a 20 minute YouTube video showed a 16-year-old being subjected to an exorcism to "cure" him of his homosexuality.

  In the video, the boy is forcibly held by the arms, while a pastor screams, "Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!" The boy eventually vomited, and the church defended its actions, saying “we believe a man should be with a woman.”
  
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  (#6) Prescribing Bicycle Riding

  While not awful, this is certainly bizarre and unscientific. 19th century American neurologist Graeme M. Hammond suggested bicycling as a cure for homosexuality, believing the sexual orientation to be a mental disorder. He claimed same-sex attraction was merely "nervous exhaustion" and was adamant that "bicycle exercise would restore health and heterosexuality." This has not been proven by research.
  
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  (#7) The Creepy Secret Camps

  Gay conversion camps are run by numerous church groups, and have been investigated by journalists to see what really goes on there. While much of it is fairly harmless prayer, singing, and role-playing, it’s carried out by unlicensed therapists in secluded camps out in the desert, or in other countries, free from US laws.

  These camps often run into the thousands of dollars, and are almost always non-refundable and force their attendees to sign confidentiality agreements.
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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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#12) Pray the Gay Away

  The principal face of the Christian effort to use devotional prayer in gay conversion therapy was Exodus International, an umbrella organization of over 300 Protestant and evangelical ministries spread over nearly 20 countries. With a mission to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals, Exodus later changed its focus to modifying behavior, rather than sexual orientation.

  But after the defection of several founders, including two men who married each other, the organization folded in 2013, apologizing for all of the damage it had done. The member ministries under the Exodus umbrella have continued their work, however.
  
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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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#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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