From Lifesitenews.
‘Banning sexual reorientation therapy is deeply misguided,’ says Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse.
“Despite worldwide bans, research shows therapy for unwanted same sex attraction helps many people,” states Ruth Institute founder and president, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.
“Even without therapy, many people around the world have experienced changes in their patterns of attraction and behavior.”
Dr. Paul Sullins, Senior Research Associate at the Ruth Institute, recently published “Sex Differences in Reported Effectiveness and Psychosocial Effects of Therapy-Assisted Sexual Orientation Change.”
His analysis shows:
- All the individuals in this sample had reduced their same sex behavior to “slight” or none.
- Although most sought out supportive therapy, 41% changed their same sex sexual behavior with no sexual reorientation therapy.
- Therapy affected men and women differently. Women were more likely to have strongly reduced same sex attraction than men, 88% v. 39%.
- Therapy to change sexual orientation sometimes brings relief from other psychologically troubling issues, most notably reductions in depression for women and reductions in self-harm for men.
“This new peer-reviewed study calls into doubt the assumptions behind worldwide efforts to regulate change-allowing therapy out of existence,“ Morse notes.
“‘Conversion therapy’” is currently restricted or outright banned in 27 US states and about 30 countries,” Morse said.
The US Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Colorado therapy bans in the Chiles v. Salazar case this June.
In Iceland, a priest faces a probe into whether he violated the country’s ban. In Malta, a man’s radio testimony of Christian conversion that involved leaving behind an LGBT identity prompted an investigation from the human rights commission.