Conversion therapy for gay people
Conversion therapy
Practitioners of ‘conversion therapy’ aim to change a person’s sexual orientation or suppress a person’s gender identity. UKCP actively campaigns against all forms of conversion therapy.
Conversion therapy is an umbrella term for a therapeutic approach, model or individual viewpoint that demonstrates an assumption that any sexual orientation or gender persona is inherently preferable to any other, and which attempts to bring about a change of sexual orientation or gender self, or seeks to suppress an individual’s expression of sexual orientation or gender identity on that basis.
UKCP was previously a signatory of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Conversion Therapy in the UK.We are now in discussion with other counselling and psychotherapy bodies to search drawing up new guidelines relating to conversion therapy, with a specific point on being psychotherapeutically informed and led.
If any members of the public include evidence of UKCP members offering conversion therapies, we encourage you to create a complaint.
Conversion therapy – frequently asked questions
Conversion therapy is an umbrella phrase for therapy that is based on the assumptio
The Lies and Dangers of Efforts to Alter Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
Organizational Positions on Reparative Therapy
Declaration on the Impropriety and Dangers of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts
We, as national organizations showing millions of licensed medical and mental health protect professionals, educators, and advocates, come together to show our professional and scientific consensus on the impropriety, inefficacy, and detriments of practices that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender individuality, commonly referred to as “conversion therapy.”
We rise firmly together in help of legislative and policy efforts to curtail the unscientific and dangerous rehearse of sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts.
American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry
"The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry finds no evidence to support the application of any “therapeutic intervention” operating under the premise that a specific sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression is pathological. Furthermore, based on the scientific evidence, the AACAP asserts that such “conversion ther
Conversion Therapy and LGBT Youth
Polling also indicates that many people do not ponder conversion therapy is effective; only 8% of respondents to a 2014 national poll said they thought conversion therapy could change a person’s sexual orientation from gay to straight.
Current Laws
Conversion Therapy by Licensed Health Care Professionals
As of June 2019, 18 states and the District of Columbia had passed statutes limiting the operate of conversion therapy: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Brand-new Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Recent York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The laws protect youth under age 18 from receiving conversion therapy from licensed mental health care providers. California was the first state to pass a conversion therapy ban in 2012. Four states—Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York—passed bans in 2019. In addition, a number of cities and counties in states without statewide bans have passed bans at the local level.
All of the state statutory bans allow licensing entities to discipline health care providers who use conversion therapy on youth under age 18. Under Con
Ban on ‘conversion therapy’ should protect all LGBT people
The RCGP has spoken out against Government proposals to ban so-called conversion therapy on the basis of sexual orientation but not gender identity.
The following letter has been published in The Guardian this morning:
The RCGP is one of 20 health organisations signatory to a memorandum of understanding opposing conversion therapy, so we were let down by the Government’s offer to ban the train for lesbian, gay and bisexual people in England and Wales – but not for trans people.
This document initially only covered sexual orientation. When it was updated to involve gender identity, we worked with other signatories to ensure the memorandum was clear that being opposed to conversion therapy did not mean opposing appropriate clinical interventions for transitioned and gender-questioning people.
This demonstrated that it is entirely possible to deliver a ban on conversion therapy that protects all LGBT people. It is critical that the government approach to this same position.
Professor Martin Marshall
Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners
London, NW1
Further Information
RCGP Press office: 0203 188
Seven survivors of conversion practices depict its lasting, damaging impact
‘Whenever I remembered the treatment I’d had, I would start physically shaking,’ – survivors of conversion practices share their experiences.
Shockingly, conversion practices stay legal in the UK. And while this remains the case, LGBTQ+ people are at risk of harm. According to the Government's LGBT Survey, 7% of LGBT+ people acquire been offered conversion therapy, rising to 13% of gender non-conforming people and 10% of asexual people.
Behind those cold numbers are real people – many of whom still move with them the long-lasting emotional scars of being made to feel broken. Of being told that who they are is improper , and that they need to be ‘fixed’ or ‘cured’.
Below, seven survivors divide their harrowing experiences of this degrading practice – and the lasting spoil it has had on them.
1. “The guilt around my sexuality is difficult to shake.”
‘I went into total denial about my sexuality and embraced the idea that I had been “cured”. At the alike time, my mental health bombed and my self-harm increased dramatically. In 2009, I tried to kill myself.
“It was only last year, aged 38, I finally accepted that I am