Gender Identity and the Harm of Conversion Therapies
Conversion therapy is an outdated and damaging form of therapy for LGBTQ+ youth and individuals. I am currently pursuing an education in psychology, including mental health and counseling, and I am passionate about providing the best care possible for all youth and individuals, regardless of gender, race, background, religion, or sexual orientation.
The Human Rights Campaign describes conversion treatment as: “conversion therapy,” sometimes known as “reparative therapy,” is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression (HRC 1).” This source further continues to explain that this practice of conversion has been rejected from most all mainstream forms of care, though due to judgment and the continuation of biases against the LGBTQ+ community, unfortunately some practicing members choose to continue to conduct conversion treatment. This form of treatment is caused by formation of judgment and biases, often from a place of religious or moral superiority regarding individuals who may have the typical or socially acceptable sexual orientation within their community. This practice completely disregards a person’s identity and can cause very harmful beliefs in the members that they are treating, in particular LGBTQ+ youth who are more vulnerable and susceptible to judgments and ideas.
The audience for this argument would include a wide variety of individuals, including mental health professionals, LGBTQ+ members or member's loved ones, religious individuals who actually support conversion practices, and the general public as this is an important topic of information for those who may have been victims of societal judgments against LGBTQ+ members within their communities due to being uneducated on this topic or by ignorance of the topic.
As we continue to combat stereotypes and campaigns targeting the LGBTQ+ community in the present day, it is vitally important that people work hard to remain informed and learn more about these members, rather than ridiculing and villainizing them. Understanding the impacts of conversion treatments can help inform and allow the general public to recognize the harmful practices that take place in this type of treatment, and work to form a healthier form of healing and therapy for LGBTQ+ youth and members who may already be facing harsh judgments from their community for being homosexual.
My goal in writing this argument is to bring light to a topic that has been controversial and misdirected as a form of treatment to the general public. I hope that regardless of personal beliefs, when people read this argument they can place any judgments or preconceived notions to the side and have empathy and understanding towards people that live or exist differently than they do. I am also hoping that this can bring light to the harmful practices LGBTQ+ members have had to face throughout history, so that we can work to create a world that is empathetic, understanding, and non judgmental of those who do not conform to be the same as everyone around them or in their communities.
There are additionally a few key points that I would like to address throughout this argument to strengthen my claim, and these include: statistical points of the detriments of conversational practices, gender affirming care, healthy therapy and counseling methods for LGBTQ+ youth, and examples of personal life experiences that have been worsened due to conversion treatments.
There are many resources available for this argument, including various human rights organizations committed to educating the general public, studies that have been conducted regarding the issues that LGBTQ+ face in society to bring light to healthier treatments and therapy that is available to them. The resources I have been researching currently include: Mayo Clinic, American Psychiatric Association, BMC Psychiatry, and Human Rights Campaign.
The evidence I have available for this topic includes statistics of the mental health of LGBTQ+ members who have endured this type of treatment, multiple sources that explain the harmful aspects of conversion, and multiple sources explaining how dangerous this type of treatment can be for youth and individuals. I will use this evidence to support my overall argument and work to persuade my audience of my claim, using factual data and educational resources.
Works Cited
“Gender dysphoria - Symptoms and causes.” Mayo Clinic, 26 February 2022, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/symptoms-causes/syc-20475255. Accessed 7 July 2023.
“Psychiatry.org - What is Gender Dysphoria?” American Psychiatric Association, https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria. Accessed 7 July 2023.
“Sexual orientation and symptoms of common mental disorder or low wellbeing: combined meta-analysis of 12 UK population health surveys - BMC Psychiatry.” BMC Psychiatry, 24 March 2016, https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-016-0767-z. Accessed 7 July 2023.
The Lies and Dangers of Efforts to Change Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, 20 May 2020, https://www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy?utm_medium=ads&utm_source=GoogleSearch&utm_content=ConversionTherapy-General&utm_campaign=GoogleGrant&utm_source=GS&utm_medium=AD&utm_campaign=BPI-HRC-Grant&utm_content=627545435753&u. Accessed 7 July 2023.
