Report: 'Ex-gay' therapy claims deceptive

[kweerwolf]

The Conservative Christian organizations that are increasingly targeting teenagers and young people with "ex-gay" conferences and therapy are deceiving parents, teens and the public about the effectiveness of their efforts, according to a report released Thursday by a gay rights organization.

The report, "Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Activism," claims that organizations working to help people overcome same-sex attraction could be sued because they cause harm instead of accomplishing what they promise.

"There's no evidence that conversion therapy actually works, but there's a growing body of evidence that it can be extremely harmful and unethical," said Jason Cianciotto, a study author and director of research for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in New York, the organization releasing the report.

<snip>

The report highlights a 2002 study of several hundred people who underwent conversion therapy. Twenty-six of the 202 interviewed said the therapy was successful, although only eight of those said they didn't experience any "slips" or have to employ coping mechanisms to counter same-sex attraction. And all but one of those eight worked in ex-gay counseling.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/03/MNGCBHHPDV1.DTL

Would all those who are shocked by this news raise their hands? ;-)

[murray hill farm]

1. Yes...

what a shocking suprise!!!!!!! What torture it must have been for those that went through the "therapy". I wonder how many years of real therapy it will take to even begin to make them whole again.