"It's generally defined as the treatment used to cure a person's attraction to the same sex; in other words, to make a gay person straight, and to cure a person's desire to change their gender identity by making them comfortable with their gender at birth. Every major medical organization from the American Medical Association to the American Psychological Association has repudiated the practice, finding that it doesn't work, and instead leads to deep depression, and suicidal thoughts in minors."
"Jessica Ritter is one of many former conversion therapy patients who now opposes the treatment. Raised in a devout Christian family, she says her first kiss was with another girl, and that she was devastated when the relationship ended due to the belief that she would go to hell so devastated that she eagerly embraced conversion therapy. "You're broken, and then then you're doing all the things that they're telling you to do, and it's not working," she says,"
"The conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, along with Colorado therapist Kaley Chiles, are challenging the ban on conversion therapy, contending that it violates a therapist's right of free speech in talk therapy. "I want to be able to operate genuinely and create therapeutic relationships that are not hindered by the values and position of our state," Chiles says, adding that for now she has to turn away clients who want conversion therapy."
The Supreme Court heard arguments on conversion therapy and government regulation of sexuality, with conservative Christian groups opposing LGBTQ interests. Conversion therapy aims to change sexual orientation or suppress gender-transition desires. Major medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have repudiated conversion therapy, finding it ineffective and linked to deep depression and suicidal thoughts in minors. About half of U.S. states have banned conversion therapy for those under 18. Former patient Jessica Ritter describes severe harm and years of recovery after undergoing the practice. Alliance Defending Freedom and therapist Kaley Chiles argue bans violate therapists' free-speech rights in talk therapy.
Read at www.npr.org
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