Conversion therapy and the war on the LGBTQ+ community
This map shows the states and territories that have bans on conversion therapy versus the states and territories that have partial or no bans. Photo courtesy of the Movement Advancement Project.
May 1, 2023
Despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association determined homosexuality to not be a mental illness in 1973, many practitioners still conduct conversion, or “reparative,” therapy. The pseudoscientific practice is meant for LGBTQ+ youth and aims to change their sexual and gender identity as to “cure” them of their homosexuality. These therapies not only do not work as sexual orientation is not pathological but are also extremely cruel and damaging.
Throughout the course of these therapies, LGBTQ+ youth undergo a variety of different tortures, including being forced to ingest “purifying substances,” threatened with homelessness, exorcisms, and even corrective rape. The last method is also known as homophobic or curative rape and is the practice of gay men or lesbians being raped by the opposite sex in order to “cure them of their sexual orientation,” says The New York Times.
All of these methods of conversion therapy, but especially corrective rape, traumatize youth and “can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide,” as the Human Rights Campaign says.
On April 27, 2023, Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz signed three different bills into law that protect gender-affirming care, reproductive health care, and ban conversion therapy. After signing the bills, Walz took to Twitter to explain how “in Minnesota, [they’re] protecting rights – not taking them away.”
By doing this, Minnesota became the 21st state to ban conversion therapy. However, while this is something to celebrate, LGBTQ+ youth are still suffering in the 21 other states and 4 territories that have no state law or policy banning conversion therapy. Some of those states and territories include Texas, Kansas, Arizona, Tennessee, Wyoming, Guam, and the U.S Virgin Islands.
Furthermore, as of April 3, 2023, at least 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced since the beginning of 2023. For perspective, there are only 92 days between January 1 and April 3. From the expansion of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida to “a renewed push to ban access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth,” as CNN says, LGBTQ+ youth are being targeted at an unprecedented rate.
Whether through conversion therapy, corrective rape, or the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, these methods of oppression against queer youth need to be outlawed instead of expanded or ignored. The longer that the torment of LGBTQ+ people goes ignored, the higher the rate of suicide and fatal violent attacks will rise.
