D1h. bijlage - ILGA_World_Curbing_Deception_world_survey_legal_restrictions_conversion_therapy.pdf

ILGA World

CHAPTER 2 - WHAT FORMS CAN SOGIECE TAKE?

United States, especially after the late 1970s,25 recent accounts shared by survivors of SOGIECE suggest that aversion techniques are still being administered as ancillary “treatments” in several parts of the world.

would discover “his abnormality” [sic], possible legal consequences of being discovered in public dressed in female clothes, and a wish to be rid of “perversion” [sic] in the hope that this would reduce associated chronic anxiety.28

In 2001, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture reported on this issue for the first time, indicating that in a number of countries, members of sexual minorities had been involuntarily confined to state medical institutions, where they were allegedly subjected to forced treatment on grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including electric shock therapy and other “aversion therapy”, reportedly causing psychological and physical harm.26

For gay and bisexual men, the most common form of electroshock aversive therapy consisted of being exposed to shocks of varying intensity while being shown male erotica on a large screen (and sometimes getting relief when pictures of women were displayed). This “therapy” was also administered in sessions where the “patient”/victim would be asked to read out cards with specific words. The subject would be electrically shocked when reading words “connected with homosexual practices”, including words like “gay pub”, “sodomy”, “in bed with a male”, and even “flapping wrists”. Relief stimuli would come with cards containing the expressions “sex with a woman”, “women”, “girl-friend”, and “female breasts”.29 In some cases, once the “treatment” had started, the level of the electric shocks would be progressively increased “due to tolerance developing” by the “patient”/victim.30 With the advent of portable electric shockers, “patients”/victims were asked to carry the device and instructed to give shocks to themselves each time they experienced “deviant desires”.

The following is a brief overview of the main aversive methods by which sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts have been (and are being) attempted. 4.1. Electroshock aversion therapy Electroshock aversive therapy is one of the most extensively reported techniques to “treat” lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse people. British mental health practitioners documented their treatment of “transvestism” via an aversive therapy which consisted of asking the “patient”/victim (assigned male at birth) to start dressing in their favourite female clothes until the moment they received an electric shock (conductors had been concealed in the shoes and clothes), at which point the “patient”/victim was supposed to get rid of the clothes. The whole process was repeated in a number of trials per day that varied between 65 and 75, until 400 trials were carried out over a total period of six days. The meticulous academic paper that explains the procedure indicates that the aim of the study was to condition the “patient”/victim in such a way that they would develop “an aversion for transvestite behaviour”.27 Most notably, the paper also explains that the motivation of “patient”/victim for seeking treatment included a fear that their young son

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Electroshock therapy to “cure” homosexuality was also used during the apartheid years in South Africa by medical personnel working with South African Defence Force.31 In India, the use of electroshock therapy for SOGIECE purposes was documented in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry up to the mid 1980s. Reports indicate that “patients”/victims were exposed to up to 45 sessions in which voltage of alternating current passed between two wet saline-soaked gauze electrodes tied to the left forearm. Notably, one of the papers explained motivation for electroshock therapy in the following terms: some patients had an urgent and pressing need to get cured, e.g. impending marriage or engagement, indirect family pressures

Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder, “Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumers’ Report” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 33, No. 3 (2002), 250. Question of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, A/56/156, 3 July 2001, para. 24. C. B. Blakemore et al., “The application of faradic aversion conditioning in a case of transvestism” Behaviour Research and Therapy 1, No. 1 (1963), 33. Id., 30. J. Thorpe et al., “Aversion-relief therapy: A new method for general application” Behaviour Research and Therapy 2, No. 1 (1964), 75. John Bancroft, “Aversion Therapy of Homosexuality: A pilot study of 10 cases” The British Journal of Psychiatry 115 (1969), 1418. Mikki van Zyl et al., The Aversion Project: Human rights abuses of gays and lesbians in the South African Defence Force by health workers during the apartheid era (Cape Town: Simply Said and Done, 1999), 81-85; “Gays tell of mutilation by apartheid army” The Guardian, 29 July 2000.

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and an ardent desire to set up a house and settle down in life like other normal people. [...] We feel that positive motivation with indirect social pressure played a significant role in the improvement of the patients and indicates good prognosis in behaviour therapy.32 Possibly in light of cultural demands, the study indicates that after “treatment” “patients”/victims “had good prospects of marriage”.33 In another study, after being exposed to up to 40 sessions of electroshock therapy, “patients”/victims were asked “to maintain daily chart of frequency of homosexual and heterosexual feelings and acts” as “a reinforcer in controlling the homosexual behaviour”.34 In May 2001, the Naz Foundation, one of the main civil society organisations working on HIV/AIDS and sexual health issues in India, filed a formal complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of India about a case of a young man in his early twenties who had been forced by his parents to undergo nearly four years of so-called “conversion therapy”.

He had received counselling, psychotropic medication and electroshock therapy as part of the “treatment” administered at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the largest hospital in Delhi.35 However, the Commission rejected the complaint on the grounds that Section 377 of the Penal Code criminalised consensual same-sex activity and, therefore, the “conversion treatment” was not against the law.36 In 2018, a doctor who had been banned by the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) was summoned by a Delhi High Court after a complaint was filed against him for “treating” gay and lesbian people using electric shock “therapy”.37

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In Latin America, accounts by SOGIECE survivors indicated that electroshock “therapy” was used in the so-called “de-homosexualisation” clinics in Ecuador (see below).38 Moreover, there is indication that electroshock therapy is still widely used in Chinese private and public health institutions. In 2014, the Beijing Municipality Haidian District People’s Court issued a judicial decision39 in which it ordered the Xinyu Piaoxiang Psychotherapy Center in the city of Chongqing to formally offer an apology to a man who was subjected to electroshock therapy as part of the “treatment” to eliminate his attraction to people of the same sex.40 However, the decision did not include any conclusion regarding the legality of “conversion therapy” in China. According to later reports, the Xinyu Center is still practicing “conversion therapies” and explicitly lists “transvestism” as one of the areas for which they offer treatment.41 In 2015, Chinese activists went undercover to expose how “conversion therapy” is still practiced in the country. One of the activists involved was inquired by the police after secretly filming electroshock therapy sessions, despite the fact that police officers had previously clarified that they were aware of the filming project.

42 After this information was brought to the attention of the UN Committee against Torture, the Committee expressed concern about the administration of electroshock therapy and regretted China’s failure to clarify whether such practices are prohibited by law, have been investigated and ended, and whether the victims have received redress that the decision.43 In 2017, Lebanese urologist Dr. Raef Rida openly stated that he still practices electroshock therapy “to convert homosexual people”. This statement was part of his intervention during a seminar

P. V. Pradhan et al,. “Homosexuality: Treatment by behaviour modification” Indian Journal of Psychiatry 24 (1982), 81. Id., 83. “Homesexuality - a study of treatment and outcome” Indian Journal of Psychiatry 25, No. 3 (1983), 236. Preston G. Johnson, “Lessons for Legalizing Love: A Case Study of the Naz Foundation's Campaign to Decriminalize Homosexuality in India” Capstone Collection 3063 (2017), 36. Ibid. “Delhi HC Summons Doctor Treating Homosexual Patients Using Electric Shocks” Outlook, 8 December 2018. Annie Kathryn Wilkinson, Sin sanidad, no hay santidad: Las prácticas reparativas en Ecuador (Quito: FLACSO, 2013), 178, 182; María Alejandra Torres y Marjorie Ortiz “Oración y encierro para ‘curar’ a gays”, El Universo, 18 May 2008. Alternative titles: Haidian District People's Court of Beijing (2014) Haimin Chuzi No. 16680 “Peng and a consulting center infringement dispute case” / 北京市海淀区人民法院 (2014)海民初字第16680号 "彭某与某咨询中心等侵犯纠纷案" / "彭燕辉诉重庆心语飘香心理咨询中心等侵犯身 权 体权、健康权和一般人格权纠纷案"

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“China China takes on landmark gay conversion case”, Al Jazeera, 31 July 2014; Justin Caba, “Gay Conversion Therapy Lawsuit: Chinese Psych Clinic Performs Electric Shock Therapy On Patient To Reverse His Homosexuality”, Medical Daily, 31 July 2014. “Victory for plaintiff in gay conversion case”, China Daily, 19 December 2014. “Services”, Chongqing Xinyu Piaoxiang Psychological Counseling Center (website). Accessed 30 January 2020. Richard Macauley, "Undercover activists show what happens at electroshock gay conversion therapy clinics in China", Quartz, 14 October 2015. Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of China, CAT/C/CHN/CO/5, 3 February 2016, para. 55.

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organized by the Muslim organization “Jamiyat al Irshad wal Islah al Khayriya al Islamia” at the Arts, Sciences and Technology University.44 Several sources indicate that electroshock therapy to “treat” lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people is still being used at least in Malaysia,45 Indonesia46 and Iran.47 4.2. Chemical aversion therapy Chemical aversion therapy was administered in a similar way to electroshock therapy. Instead of being electrically shocked patients were injected different kinds of nausea inducing drugs while being exposed to erotic material on a large screen. Metrazol shock therapy—a drug that induces seizures—was one of the techniques used. Records show that it was believed that a regimen of twenty to thirty induced seizures “would free the arrested psychosexual energy and permit easier psychotherapy”.48 In other cases, “patients”/victims were given caffeine and apormophine to generate nausea. They would be shown slides of undressed men until the induced vomiting started. A few hours later the “patient”/victim would receive a dose of testosterone propionate while being exposed to films of nude or semi-nude women.49 At least one recent report shows that this form of extreme “therapy” is still being used in Iran.50 4.3. Other forms of aversive techniques

being used, mainly by religious counsellors, certain forms of aversive techniques were included in their sessions. For example, a survivor explained that his “therapist” had once asked him to close his eyes and rub himself to arousal and then broke an ammonia capsule under his nose to generate aversion.51 Another survivor explained that at one point he was instructed to wear a rubber band around his wrist and to snap it every time he thought about a man sexually.52 Other accounts include the use of ice or hot coils being placed on the “patient”/victim’s hands to inflict pain while being exposed to certain type of gay-related visual content.53 In what appears to be a veiled form of aversion therapy by means of conversation and mental representation of images, a SOGIECE survivor who participated in a study published in 2013 explained an exercise he was put through called “image conditioning” which involved fantasizing about homosexual encounters and then introducing mental pictures of vomit, excrement, and urine. After that, he was supposed to envision water washing away that scene to end up with a nonsexual situation with a female.54

5. Masturbatory reconditioning Academic papers from the 1960s show that this technique was administered in hospitals with the purpose of changing the cause of sexual arousal. Male “patients”/victims were provided with heterosexual erotic material and asked to masturbate “as often as possible” using

A study published in the United States in 2013 showed that among the practices that were still

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Omar Fattal, “Dr. Rida, urologist, discusses homosexuality and advocates for the use of “electrical shock therapy” as a form of conversion therapy”, The Huffington Post, 4 April 2017. Jia Vern Tham, "Here's How Malaysia "Cures" LGBTs With Conversion Therapy", SAYS, 20 December 2018. Amie Bishop, Harmful Treatment: The Global Reach of So-Called Conversion Therapy (New York: OutRight Action International, 2019), 27. See Section 7 below (subsection on clinics to “cure” homosexuality in Iran). Vernon A. Rosario, Homosexuality and Science: A Guide to the Debates (Denver and London: ABC CLIO, 2002), 98. M. P. Feldman and M. J. MacCulloch, Homosexual Behavior: Therapy and Assessment (Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1971), 10 (citing Kevin Freund, “Some Problems in the Treatment of Homosexuality”, in Henry J. Eysenck (ed.), Experiments in Behaviour Therapy (London, 1960)). “Reparative Therapies on Gays and Lesbians through Cruel, Inhumane and Humiliating Treatments Has Increased in Iran” 6Rang (ILGA Asia repost), 13 July 2018. Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N. Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 267. Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N.

Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 267. Sam Ames “NCLR Urges U.N. Committee Against Torture to End Conversion Therapy”, National Center for Lesbian Rights (website), 7 November 7, 2014; “#BornPerfect Campaign Leader Samuel Brinton Addresses U.N. Committee Against Torture”, NCLRights YouTube Channel, 18 November 2014. See, also: Account by Jerry Spencer: “Discussing Conversion Therapy” Southern Poverty Law Center YouTube Channel, 20 August 2012; “Student recounts painful conversion therapy, abuse” The Collegian, 7 December 2009. Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N. Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 268.

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heterosexual fantasies only, thus women “would become associated with sexual reinforcement”. The following excerpt shows an example of how the masturbatory process administered to a young homosexual “patient”/victim was documented: At first, though masturbation was successful, he took a long time to reach orgasm, his fantasy was brief and the girl [in the pictures he was given] “just a body not a person”. By the seventh session he reported a definite change—his fantasy now involved more prolonged and more satisfying sexual activity and the time taken to reach emission had decreased considerably.55 This person had been subjected to a “treatment” that had combined both electroshock aversive therapy and masturbatory reconditioning. The following excerpt illustrates the way in which the results were reported: In the course of treatment, the patient developed depression and various gastric ailments. However, he persisted and completed treatment because he felt it was doing him good and really changing his sexual orientation. He had observed that his reaction to the homosexuals he met both in and out of hospital was now one of aggression and disgust rather than pleasure. Also he was claiming great satisfaction from his heterosexual masturbation fantasies and from seeing and kissing his girlfriend. He soon felt confident enough to leave hospital.

He had had 30 aversion sessions, at the rate of 1 session per day, and 38 masturbation sessions”.56 Recent survivor accounts explain that they have been encouraged to masturbate while fantasising with persons of a different sex as ancillary methods during the “therapies” they received with the aim of modifying their sexual orientation. In a study carried out in the United States in 2009, a male

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SOCE survivor explained that he was asked to masturbate while thinking of women, an exercise “due to be registered in a grid”.57 In an interview with El País, another survivor from Spain explained in 2010 that masturbating while thinking of women was also part of the “therapy” he endured.58 Likewise, in 2019, a SOCE survivor from Arequipa, Peru, explained that he was instructed to masturbate to gay porn but to ejaculate only to heterosexual porn.59

6. Hypnosis Hypnosis has also been commonly reported as an ancillary method used in “conversion therapies”. Soviet doctor Nikolai Ivanov appears to have promoted such “treatment” for “patients”/victims who showed a clear will to “cooperate”. During the session, the subject was asked to constantly repeat to himself a phrase like “I am now free of my previous desires” or pledge that they “would not succumb to anything tempting”.60 More recently, in 2017, BBC News reported that these techniques were still being offered in Russia. For example, psychotherapist Yan Goland, claimed that he had “cured” 78 gay men and 8 trans people using Ivanov’s method in sessions that may take up to 18 months and even longer in the case of trans people. As he explained to the media outlet, he also uses “a mixture of psychoanalysis and identity therapy” to influence a person’s dreams.61 Other providers include the Nikitenko brothers, who claim to be “psycho-hypnologists” and offer a treatment for homosexuality under the premise that it is a type of “obsessive-compulsive disorder”.62 In 2013, the Indonesian Clinical Hypnotherapy Association stated that sexual orientation could be modified through hypnosis based on the belief that same-sex orientation is caused by “subconscious thoughts induced by a traumatic past”.63 According to a local practitioner, “this method only takes about 2 hours.

After that, the gay man can return to normal, because the past memory which is the root cause has been removed”.64

J. Thorpe et al., “Aversion-relief therapy: A new method for general application” Behaviour Research and Therapy 2, No. 1 (1964), 75. Ibid. Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N. Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 268. Alejandra S. Inzunza, “Oraciones para dejar de ser gay”, El Pais, 20 June 2010. Melissa Goytizolo y Fabiola Torres, “Las terapias de la tortura”, La República, 12 August 2019. Rustam Alexander, Homosexuality in the USSR (1956–82) (2018), 92. Anastasia Golubeva “Hypnosis and holy water: Russian 'cures' for gay people” BBC News, 3 May 2017. Ibid. “Hipnoterapi Klinis Bisa Sembuhkan Gay", Berita Satu, 14 November 2013. Ibid.

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7. Internment in clinics or camps Numerous reports have revealed that forced internment for SOGIECE purposes is a modality still perpetrated in many parts of the world. In most cases, victims are either coerced, tricked or even kidnapped with the complicity or at the request of close relatives and taken to “clinics”, camps or other “institutions” in which they are isolated from the outer world. During the time they are interned, they can also be subjected to other forms of abuse, including torture and other forms of cruel or inhumane treatment. In its 2015 report on violence against LGBT people, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) indicated that it had received numerous reports on instances in which LGBT people, especially lesbian women, were subjected to psychotherapeutic treatment, internment in “clinics” or camps, and physical abuse with the aim of modifying their sexual orientation or gender identity.65 According to the information received by the IACHR, these “clinics” are privately run but remain under the control of either the National Council for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances and the Ministry of Health.

Reports indicate that authorities failed to control the appointment of professionals in these clinics, many of whom were not health professionals but religious extremists, failed to control housing conditions, and failed to supervise the legality of procedures through which “patients” were committed to residential clinics.66 Survivors indicated that once interned, they were exposed to systematic verbal abuse, yelling, humiliation, and rape threats, housed in overcrowded rooms; held in isolation for long periods of time; deprived of food for several days or forced to eat unsanitary food, forced to “dress and behave like prostitutes to learn feminine behaviour” and have sexual relations with other

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male interns by order of their “therapists", among other brutal measures.67 The scale of the crisis caught the attention of international human rights bodies —including the UN Human Rights Committee,68 CEDAW, 69 and CAT70—and led to the adoption of legal measures to outlaw “conversion practices”.71 In 2017, an investigation led by Brian Ross for ABC News in several states in the United States of America revealed that multiple camps—where parents send their gay and lesbian teenage children “to make them straight”—were still in operation. Undercover investigators found that a camp in Alabama, operating as an un-licenced Christian ministry, charged a USD 21,000 fee “to deal” with teenagers who consider themselves gay “using a Bible and sometimes a belt”. Survivors revealed that they were left in isolation and beaten up because of their sexual orientation.72 In Texas, another ranch-like Christian facility was found to function as a camp where parents sent their teenage children for same-sex attractions. One of the pastors in charge of a camp was soon after sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for child abuse.73 A Kenyan refugee living in the United States of America explained that the practice “conversion therapy” within the Muslim community utilizes abusive tactics as a way of policing what they consider to be “deviant” behaviour.

According to his testimony, leaders operate camps in Somalia and Kenya and subject their captives to severe beatings, shackling, food deprivation and other cruel practices, usually involving a rigorous Islamic curriculum.74 In the same line, in 2019, Afro Queer podcast reported the case of a Somali-American queer woman named “K” who travelled to Mogadishu to visit her family in Somalia. After a few weeks, she was interned by her father in a “rehabilitation facility” where people are sent to receive “an Islamic education” geared to get rid of

IACHR, Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons in the Americas (2015), para. 200. Id., para. 203. Id., para. 205. Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations by the Human Rights Committee: Ecuador, CCPR/C/ECU/CO/5, 4 November 2009, para. 12; List of issues prior to the submission of the sixth periodic report of Ecuador, CCPR/C/ECU/QPR/6, 24 April 2014, para 8; Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Ecuador, CCPR/C/ECU/CO/6, 11 August 2016, para 11. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Concluding observations on the combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of Ecuador, CEDAW/C/ECU/CO/8-9, 11 March 2015, para. 19; List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the tenth periodic report of Ecuador, CEDAW/C/ECU/QPR/10, 20 March 2019, para 7. Committee against Torture, List of issues prior to submission of the eighth periodic report of Ecuador, CAT/C/ECU/QPR/8, 26 December 2019, para 36. See Section 1.2 in Chapter 7 of this report. “Escaping gay conversion” ABC News (YouTube Channel), 10 March 2017. “Gay teen describes traumatizing experiences at gay conversation camps” ABC News (YouTube Channel), 11 March 2017. Owen Amos “Ex-Muslims: The American who fled 'gay conversion' in Africa” BBC News, 26 February 2018; “Escaping gay conversion therapy in Kenya”, The Ithacan, 7 February 2018.

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behaviour that is deemed “culturally unacceptable”. These facilities provide a “return to the culture” for people who need to be reintegrated to their culture. She was beaten up, chained and left uncommunicated.75 In spring 2012, 16-year-old Ivan Kharchenko was reportedly forcibly interned by his father in a Moscow clinic where an attempt to “cure” him of homosexuality using psychotropic drugs was made. As reported in local media, activists and journalists were able to liberate Ivan out of the clinic. When interrogated by the police, the clinic provided the police with false documents, according to which Ivan appeared as a 19-year-old who had consented to treatment for drug addiction.76 Iran: clinics to “cure” homosexuality In 2018, 6Rang (the Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network’s) found that the use of many of the methods described in this chapter—such as electric shock therapy, psychoactive medication, hypnosis, masturbatory reconditioning—has continually increased.77 Their field study on the polyclinics, institutions and private clinics that have listed counselling to LGBT people as one of the areas of their expertise, has shown that these centres consider homosexuality to be a “disease” or “sexual deviation”, and have made a business by alleging in their advertisements that they can “cure” this disease.

Some of them believe that homosexuality is a form of addiction and treat it with the same methods used to cure drug addicted patients. A total number of 11 medical centres, counselling clinics and private clinics were identified in the report. Five of them are located in the capital (Tehran) and the rest in cities across Iran. Furthermore, an institution called “The Anonymous Sex Addicts Association of Iran” with branches in 18 provinces, has listed “curing homosexuality” among its programs. The institution’s website claims that participation in these sessions can result in transforming same-sex sexual feelings into “brotherly feelings” towards someone of the same-sex.78

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8. Psychotherapy and counselling Psychotherapy appears to be among the most commonly used methods by mental health practitioners in attempting to change a person’s SOGIE. During the first half of the 20th century, most schools within psychology and psychiatry have operated as promoters of such “treatments” based on the notion that sexual and gender diversity were pathological or in some way “abnormal or deviant forms of behaviour”, thereby contributing to the proliferation of many of the brutal and inhumane treatments described above and of less aggressive, albeit equally harmful, attempts through to psychotherapy, counselling and other forms of talking therapy. In many cases, practitioners combined psychoanalysis with other techniques “in recalcitrant patients who supposedly posed too much resistance to treatment”.79 Several psychiatrists contributed to the notion that “homosexuality” constituted a pathology in numerous treatises published mainly between the 1930s and 1960s, among them Sandor Rado and Albert Ellis.

The work of these authors had profound implications on how sexual and gender diversity was categorised not only in the United States but on global scale.80 Austrian psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler was among the many influential voices defending the idea that that homosexuality was “a perversion” that could be “cured” with “intensive psychotherapy”, especially after the publication of his book “Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life?” in 1957, where he proclaimed, among other things that “every homosexual is an exquisite injustice collector, and consequently a psychic masochist”.81 He also explained that: the sometimes visible flippant hilarity of the “gay”—the homosexual’s term for themselves—is a very thin pseudoeuphoric camouflage. It is a technique for warding off masochistic depression; another such technique is the

“Season Two - Episode 05: From Minneapolis To Mogadishu”, Afro Queer Podcast, 21 November 2019. Charity Foundation for Social and Legal Community Assistance “Rainbow” et al., Alternative Report: Implementation of the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the Russian Federation in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. Submitted for the 49th session of the UN Committee against Torture (2012), 82 (citing “Pochti dve nedeli shkol’nika, priznavshegosya v gomoseksual’noy orientacii, proderzhali v narkologicheskoy klinike” Novaya Gazeta, 25 April 2012). See also: “Gay Teen Forcibly Taken to Drug Rehab Clinic Released” The Moscow Times, 25 April 2012. “Reparative Therapies on Gays and Lesbians through Cruel, Inhumane and Humiliating Treatments Has Increased in Iran” 6Rang (ILGA Asia repost), 13 July 2018. “The Anonymous Sex Addicts Association of Iran”. Website accessed 5 February 2020. Vernon A. Rosario, Homosexuality and Science: A Guide to the Debates (Denver and London: ABC CLIO, 2002), 96. See: Annie Kathryn Wilkinson, Sin sanidad, no hay santidad: Las prácticas reparativas en Ecuador (Quito: FLACSO, 2013), 52. Edmund Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (New York: Hill and Wang, 1957), 16.

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homosexual’s exaggerated and freeflowing malice, which is ready for use at any time.82 Other inflammatory definitions featured in his academic work include that bisexuality is “a state that has no existence beyond the word itself” and that it is a “fraud, involuntarily maintained by some naive homosexuals”,83 that “lesbians are characterized by enormous tension and pathological jealousy”,84 that it is “futile to expect a satisfactory human relationship within the framework of lesbianism”,85 and that lesbians are “incapable of conscious happiness”.86 Evincing how prevalent the pathologising paradigm was at that time, these affirmations, among thousands of similar ones which would outrage any serious professional in our days, do not appear to have harmed or tarnished the book’s or the author’s reputation.87 On the contrary, with notable exceptions, it was well-received among professionals who further elaborated on his premises.

Bergler even openly advocated for “the dissemination of knowledge that homosexuality is a curable disease”88 and for the “creation and maintenance of outpatient departments for the treatment of homosexuals, within the framework of existing psychiatric departments in large hospitals, to be staffed with specially trained psychiatrists”.89 Even if not specifically based on his own recommendations, these were ideas that were largely heard and followed in those times. Among those who followed Bergler’s line of thought were influential American psychoanalysts Irving Bieber and Charles Socarides. Bieber was responsible for aversion experiments administered to gay men in the 1960s and, even though he reported a 27% “cure” rate, a decade later he was unable to demonstrate that any of his cases had

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actually been successful.90 Socarides reported having successfully “treated” numerous gay men using psychotherapy. In average, the “treatment” would extend for more than 40 months, with sessions occurring three to five times each week. Under his view, psychoanalytic treatment of homosexuality involved, among other things, helping the client gain insight “into the origins of his pathology” and resolving anxiety, anger, and guilt that stems from “failed psychosexual development”.91 Socarides would become one of the most cited authors among SOGIECE proponents, even after “homosexuality” was depathologised. Even in 1995, Socarides stated that: I think that most, if not all, homosexuals who say they are “in love” are lying to themselves.

Deep down, they harbor aggressive impulses and even incestuous feelings toward their lovers, impulses and feelings that often drive them to keep looking for other partners.92 In a peculiar twist of fate, Charles Socarides’ son— to whom he dedicated one of the treatises on the treatment of homosexuality—came out as gay and served as the White House liaison to the Labour Department as an adviser to the Clinton Administration on lesbian and gay issues during the 90s.93 By the early 1970s, consensus on the effectiveness and ethical implications pathologising “homosexuality” and offering treatments to “cure” it was shifting in the Global North, especially in the United States of America. This turning point was possible thanks to the influential work carried out by sexologists and mental health practitioners,

Edmund Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (New York: Hill and Wang, 1957), 21. Id, 89. Id, 265. Ibid. Ibid. The author even expressed that: "Homosexuals are essentially disagreeable people, regardless of their pleasant or unpleasant outward manner”. (Id., 21). See also: “Their ‘invisible influence’ is even greater. Recently I devoted an entire book, Fashion and the Unconscious, to the fantastic state of affairs that prevails in the fashion industry. Since many of the prominent male fashion designers are homosexuals, women are dressed by their worst enemies” (Id., 239). Edmund Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? (New York: Hill and Wang, 1957), 291. Ibid. Jack Drescher, “Queer Diagnoses: Parallels and Contrasts in the History of Homosexuality, Gender Variance, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Article” Archives of Sexual Behavior 39 (2010), 433. Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N. Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 258. Charles Socarides, Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far (Washington DC: Adam Margrave Books, 1995), 111. “Coming Out to My Dad, the Founder of Conversion Therapy (by Richard Socarides)”, ImFromDriftwood YouTube Channel, 8 April 2013; David W. Dunlap, “An Analyst, a Father, Battles Homosexuality” 24 December 1995.

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including that of Alfred Kinsey94 and of Evelyn Hooker.95 Their research lent support to a view that homosexuality, like heterosexuality, is a normal variation of human sexual expressions.96 Additionally, advocacy efforts by the nascent American gay movement contributed in bringing light to the stigma and damaging effects that pathologisation had in the lived experience of people belonging to sexual and gender minorities.97 Furthermore, most practitioners —including many who had been previously involved in SOGIECE— adopted a critical view of how the notion of “pathology” and the idea that homosexuality was “undesirable” had actually guided the research to find it’s “underlying causes” and possible “cures”.98 Even after consensus against pathologisation started to grow, a marginal group of psychiatrists in the United States refused to change their views.99 Among them, Charles Socarides referred to the APA’s removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as “a huge mistake”.100 In 1992, Socarides and Joseph Nicolosi founded the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH),101 which became the leading institution promoting “reparative therapy”. This entity, which profusely published pseudoscientific journals and papers on the topic, became an important source of validation to the efforts of

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religious institutions and organizations that encourage the use of these practices. The basis for “reparative therapy” includes notions of what is to be considered a “normal” sexuality and masculinity,102 relies on hostile or otherwise stereotyped views about the so-called “gay lifestyle” and relationships,103 and refers to ways in which “non-gay homosexuals” can live “in harmony with the gendered world that is God’s creation”.104 Therefore, the term “reparative” would make reference to the use of psychotherapy to attempt to repair the “damage” or the “trauma” that allegedly leads to deviations from normality in sexuality.105 In line with this, survivors have explained how practitioners instil the idea that any sexual abuse they may have suffered as a child is the cause for their sexual orientation,106 even when research shows that there is no scientific evidence that abnormal parenting, sexual abuse, or other adverse life events influence sexual orientation.107 Even though NARTH claimed not to be a religious organisation, besides the fact that the writings of its leaders often made explicit reference to spiritual values, it tied close alliances with religious ministries advocating for SOGIECE globally.

In 2000, the American Psychiatric Association noted that practitioners of “reparative therapy” had openly integrated older psychoanalytic theories that pathologized homosexuality with traditional

Alfred Kinsey et al., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1948); Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1953). Laud Humphreys, “An interview with Evelyn Hooker”, Alternative Lifestyles 1, No. 2 (1978): 191-206, 193; Katharine S. Milar, “The Myth Buster: Evelyn Hooker’s Groundbreaking Research Exploded The Notion That Homosexuality Was A Mental Illness, Ultimately Removing It From The DSM”, Monitor on Psychology 42, vol. 2 (2011): 24, 24. See also: Evelyn Hooker, “The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual”, Journal of Projective Techniques 21, vol. 1 (1957): 18-31. Jack Drescher, “Can Sexual Orientation Be Changed?” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 19 No. (2015), 85. Ibid. Gerald Davison, “Homosexuality, The Ethical Challenge” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 44, No. 2 (1976), 159. Vernon A. Rosario, Homosexuality and Science: A Guide to the Debates (Denver and London: ABC CLIO, 2002), 108. Charles Socarides, Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far (Washington DC: Adam Margrave Books, 1995), 157.

In 2014 NARTH was renamed “Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity” and is currently presented as “a multidisciplinary professional and scientific organization dedicated to preserving the right of individuals to obtain the services of a therapist who honors their values, advocating for integrity and objectivity in social science research, and ensuring that competent licensed, professional assistance is available for persons who experience unwanted homosexual attractions”. Source: Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity Website (www.therapeuticchoice.com), accessed January 31, 2020. See, for example: Joseph Nicolosi, A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, Rev. Edition (Liberal Mind Publishers, 2017): “The idea is to prevent the boy from detaching from his normal maleness and to encourage him to claim the masculine identity for which he was designed” (page 18); “A gender-nonconforming boy can be sensitive, kind, social, artistic, gentle – and heterosexual. He can be an artist, an actor, a dancer, a cook, a musician – and a heterosexual. These innate artistic skills are “who he is”, part of the wonderful range of human abilities. No one should try to discourage those abilities and traits. With appropriate masculine affirmation and support, however, they can all be developed within the context of normal heterosexual manhood” (page 56).

See, among others: Joseph Nicolosi, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1991). See, esp.: Chapter 11: “Homosexual Love Relationships” and Chapter 12 “Gay Sexuality”; Joseph Nicolosi, “The Traumatic Foundation of Male Homosexuality”, Crisis Magazine: A Voice for the Faithful Catholic Laity, 19 December 2016. Joseph Nicolosi, “A Developmental Model for Effective Treatment of Male Homosexuality” American Journal of Pastoral Counseling 3, No. 3-4 (2001), 99. An excerpt of an interview with Joseph Nicolosi by Stephen Fry’s show “Out There” can be found here. Scott Douglas Jacobsen, “Author Peter Gajdics on Conversion Therapy” Medium, 28 January 2018. Barbara L. Frankowski, “Sexual Orientation and Adolescents”, Pediatrics 113 (2004), 1828.

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religious beliefs condemning homosexuality.108 In fact, individuals who received “reparative therapy” from a mental health professional frequently got support or counselling from an “ex-gay” ministry as well, so the line between psychotherapy and religious counselling often became blurry or even non-existent. Moreover, there is always the possibility for licensed (or non-licensed) mental health professionals to be participating in and working for religious organizations who provide services intended to produce sexual orientation change, while using their professional knowledge and skills.109 Amongst NARTH’s main partners was Exodus International, an interdenominational Christian organization that promoted the message of “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ”, which had more than 400 local ministries offering SOGIECE in the United States and Canada and in more than 17 countries around the world.110 In 2003, an influential academic paper gave new vigour to SOGIECE proponents. A study carried out by Robert L.

Spitzer—ironically, one of the psychiatrists who played a key role in removing “homosexuality” from the DSM in 1973—concluded that there was evidence that “change in sexual orientation following some form of [‘]reparative therapy[’] does occur in some gay men and lesbians”.111 Spitzer came to this conclusion after interviewing 143 men and 57 women who retrospectively self-reported on the outcomes of the “reparative therapy” they had undergone in years prior to the study. This paper was systematically cited by SOGIECE proponents as evidence that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation were actually effective. As expressed by Arana, what translated into the larger culture was: “The father of the 1973 revolution in the classification and treatment of homosexuality, who could not be seen as just another biased ‘ex-gay’ crusader with an agenda, had validated ex-gay therapy”.112

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However, the paper was criticised for severe methodological flaws, including sample bias in the subject recruitment (approximately 20% of subjects were professional “ex-gays” who led their own “ex-gay” ministries); lack of follow up; the use of retrospective rather than prospective accounts among many others. Additionally, despite the study’s methodological limitations, it was published without conventional peer review and, instead, only reviewer commentaries accompanied the study’s publication.113 In 2012, Spitzer repudiated his 2003 study acknowledging that the major critiques his paper received were “largely correct”.114 He also indicated that there was a “fatal flaw” in the study, given that there was no way to judge the credibility of subject reports of change. To conclude, he stated: I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of [‘]reparative therapy[’]. I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of [‘]reparative therapy[’] because they believed that I had proven that [‘]reparative therapy[’] works with some ‘highly motivated’ individuals.115 Despite this retraction, the 2003 study continues to be used as “evidence” of the possibility of change.

While “conversion therapies” attempted through psychotherapy may appear as less shocking when compared to the techniques used in the past, they are equally lacking scientifically supported evidence. Additionally, as it will be developed below, SOCE survivors commonly refer to therapists as harbouring biased views about sexual diversity. In many cases, they discounted identification as LGB, blamed problems on sexual orientation, lacked basic knowledge of LGB issues, did not make participants feel good about themselves or recommended an increase in

American Psychiatric Association, Therapies Focused on Attempts to Change Sexual Orientation (Reparative or Conversion Therapies), Document Ref. No. 200001 (2000), 2. Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N. Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 261. For more information on Exodus International, see Section 10 below (“Religious counselling”). Robert L. Spitzer, “Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation? 200 Participants Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation” Archives of Sexual Behavior 32, No. 5 (2003), 403–417. Gabriel Arana, “My So-Called Ex-Gay Life” The Prospect, 11 April 2012. Jack Drescher, “Can Sexual Orientation Be Changed?” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 19 No. (2015), 88. Robert L. Spitzer, “Spitzer Reassesses His 2003 Study of Reparative Therapy of Homosexuality” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41, No. 4 (2012). Ibid.

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participation in activities that are gender typical, and spiritual or religious practices.116

therapy describing it as “explain the gay away with pseudoscience”.120

As stated above, in most cases, the boundaries between psychotherapy and religious counselling in the guise of “therapy” can be blurry or even nonexistent. For instance, in 2012, reports indicated that a therapeutic clinic in Quebec, the Outaouais Christian Therapy clinic, offered psychotherapy under “a Christian/biblical perspective”. Many of the practitioners working in the clinic were licensed professionals. Services included couple and family therapy and “treatment for homosexuality”. The director of the clinic, André Mousseau, explained that “all those who had sinned needed to enter into communion with Jesus Christ” so “patients”/victims were taught “to overcome sin” in their daily lives.117

A 28-year-old survivor from Lebanon explained that his Christian family sent him to a psychologist who convinced his parents that therapy “could make him straight” and declared: “That is what really harmed me the most – living in this inbetween. Thinking I could change, but I knew I couldn't”.121

In 2015, then President Barak Obama stated that his administration would support the efforts to ban “conversion therapies” in reaction to the suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender youth.118 As Leelah explained in her suicide note, she had been forced by her parents to undergo SOGIECE administered by Christian therapists who told her that she was “selfish and wrong” and that she “should look to God for help”.119 In early 2020, Bowen Yang, a Chinese American comedian, podcaster, and writer, explained that after coming out to is family, his father told him he had arranged for eight sessions “with a specialist” who turned out to be a SOCE practitioner. He explained that, even though he was incredulous at first, he then considered the possibility that the therapy might work. At the first session, he was asked whether he wanted to receive a “Christ centred” or a “secular experience” and he opted for the “nonreligious” version of the deal. He described the first few sessions as “talk therapy” which then moved to conversations in which the therapist would try to instil the idea that his attraction to men stemmed from “shame”. He later abandoned the

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In Mexico, Everardo Martínez Macías, founder of the VenSer Clinic, claims to be a psychologist with a master’s degree in labour psychology from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León and more than 20 of expertise. He advertises that he has the ability of rendering gay men “heterosexual” in a 5month therapy.122 In his writings he claims that he is “an instrument of Jesus Christ” —the only one who can heal people, as he explains— and attributes homosexuality to stereotypical, frivolous or outlandish reasons such as difficulties in interacting with “the opposite sex”, being raised in a “matriarchy”, allowing “boys to have long hair” or “young girls play football” and even “boredom”.123 Media reports indicate that he even offers his “services” through WhatsApp messages.124 In 2011, John Becker, an American “conversion therapy” survivor and member of Truth Wins Out (a non-profit organisation raising awareness against “conversion therapies”), went undercover to expose Marcus Bachmann, a therapist from Minesotta, United States of America, who provided services to “change” his sexual orientation through “therapy” sessions.125 The “treatment” he started would take up to six months and “the least he could expect” was to get his homosexuality down to “manageable levels”.

He was also given referrals to join Church support groups.126 After being exposed Bachmann even attempted to collect $150 in no-

Annesa Flentje, Nicholas C. Heck and Bryan N. Cochran, “Sexual Reorientation Therapy Interventions: Perspectives of Ex-Ex-Gay Individuals” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health 17 No. 3 (2013), 266. “Guérir» son homosexualité pour 12 000 $” La Presse, 18 December 2012; “Une clinique thérapeutique de Gatineau choque” Radio Canada, 19 December 2012. Michael D. Shear, “Obama Calls for End to ‘Conversion’ Therapies for Gay and Transgender Youth”, The New York Times, April 8, 2015. See also: V. Jarrett, “Official White House response to enact Leelah’s Law to ban all LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy“, 2015. Leelah Alcorn, “Suicide Note” Tumblr, 28 December 2014; Fallon Fox, “Leelah Alcorn's Suicide: Conversion Therapy Is Child Abuse“, Huffington Post, 11 January 2015. See also Section 12 below on specific forms of GICE. “Bowen Yang of ‘S.N.L.’ Is a Smash. And a Mensch”, The New York Times, 25 January 2020. “‘I had suicidal thoughts': Gay Lebanese speak out against conversion therapy” Qantara, 9 November 2018. “Psicólogo ofrece terapia para “quitar homosexualidad” y lo critican en redes” ABC Radio, 24 May 2017 Everardo Martínez Macías “La homosexualidad y el cristianismo”, Venser (website). Accessed: 31 Juanuary 2020.

“Las terapias que ofrecen “curar” la homosexualidad por 900 pesos y vía mensajes de WhatsApp”, Sinembargo.mx, 2 April 2019; Javier Risco, “La Terapia del Fraude” El Financiero, 3 April 2019. Mariah Blake “‘God Has Created You for Heterosexuality’: Clinics Owned by Michele Bachmann’s Husband Practice Ex-Gay Therapy” The Nation, 8 July 2011; John Becker, "Ex-Gay Undercover", In The Life Media (YouTube channel), 31 August 2012. “Gay Man Goes Undercover To Expose Conversion Therapy Clinic”, I’m From Driftwood (YouTube Channel), 27 February 2018.

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show fees from two appointments to which Becker did not attend.127 It is impossible to have a clear picture of how many mental health practitioners still engage in SOGIECE around the world. The difficulties of tracking their activities and lack of awareness or political will by State officials are only a few of the reasons that complicate things even more. Survivor accounts and undercover investigations have so far been the main source of information showing that these “therapies” are still widely offered. Based on anecdotal evidence, there is strong indication that psychologists and other mental health professionals are still engaging in these practices all around the world.

Modern times: moulding and rebranding In countries where SOGIECE has been largely repudiated—or even legally restricted—proponents had to reshape and adapt the way in which they present and offer their “treatment”. Many openly deny they provide “conversion therapy”, even accepting that “conversion therapy” is harmful and that “homosexuality” or gender variance is not an illness, distancing themselves from the idea of pathologising sexual and gender diverse people. In fact, this has been described as efforts by SOGIECE proponents that make these pseudo-scientific practices “a constant moving target”.128 Common terms that reflect the way in which these “services” are currently being offered in many countries include assistance on how to deal with “unwanted same-sex attraction”; promoting a “healthy sexuality”, addressing “sexual brokenness”; helping clients explore their “gender confusion”. Many SOGIECE proponents also support their therapies by distorting research on sexual and gender fluidity. For instance, the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (formerly “NARTH”) now provides “Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy” ironically abbreviated “SAFE-T”.129 In 2019, the founder of the New Creation Association, a

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Christian group in Hong-Kong, stated that his organisation is “simply providing support to people” because sexual orientation is fluid “and change is possible”. He denied that his group practices “conversion therapy” but reaffirmed that people “still have a choice to be gay or not to be gay”.130 In Spain, Elena Lorenzo, a professional coach who was fined in 2019 for engaging in SOGIECE,131 has recently launched a “course” in which she provides “identity coaching” framing it as “a process of personal growth aimed at people with homosexual feelings”.132 She explicitly states: “We cannot be confused with aversion or conversion therapies that have the purpose of modifying a person's sexual orientation or gender identity”.133 “Identity coaching”—as she presents it—is a guided process in which individuals receive help “to reconnect with their identity” and are assisted “in the growth and development of the areas that were “stuck” or “slowed down” at an early age”, terminology that resonates with the postulates of “reparative therapy”.134 Despite the distance she claims to take from “conversion therapies”, the course—and the website—are called “Road to Heterosexuality” (Camino a la heterosexualidad, in Spanish).135 In another form of rebranding, many SOGIECE proponents are moving towards adopting a rightsbased discourse, framing their “therapies” as “services” that people have the

right to receive. As an example of this, when the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) was re-established as the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI) in 2014, it was announced that the organisation would continue “preserving the right of individuals to obtain the services of a therapist who honours their values, advocating for integrity and objectivity in social science research, and ensuring that competent licensed, professional assistance is available for persons who experience unwanted homosexual (same-sex) attractions”.136 Another example of the adoption of a rights-based discourse based on religious arguments can be found in the arguments presented by the ultraconservative organisation CitizenGo when

John M. Becker “So Marcus Bachmann Called Yesterday…” Truth Wins Out (Website), 15 November 2011; Jonathan Weisman, “Marcus Bachmann to Gay Rights Activist: Pay Your Bill” The Wall Street Journal, 16 November 2011. Bella FitzPatrick, “Conversion Therapy & the Problem with Banning it” Medium, 7 April 2019. “Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity and Homosexuality”, Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (website), Question 6. “In Hong Kong, gay people prescribed prayers and no sex as a 'cure'” Reuters, 31 May 2018. For more information on the lawsuit brought against Elena Lorenzo, see Section 2.2 in Chapter 7. “Camino a la Heterosexualidad: Un cuso de Elena Lorenzo”, Camino a la Heterosexualidad (website). Accessed 1 February 2020. Ibid. See Section 2 in Chapter 1 and above. “Camino a la Heterosexualidad: Un cuso de Elena Lorenzo”, Camino a la Heterosexualidad (website). Accessed 1 February 2020. Katie Rose Quandt, “‘Ex-Gay’ Conversion Therapy Group Rebrands, Stresses ‘Rights of Clients’” Mother Jones, 8 August 2014

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advocating against legal measures to restrict socalled “conversion therapies”: To be fair, some of the practices used in “conversion therapy” in the past have been highly questionable. Some doctors have used electro-shock therapy or vomit-inducing chemicals to create a psychological aversion to homosexual impulses. Some have advocated forced “conversion therapy”. We are not advocating any of these techniques or ideas and would agree that they should be restricted. However, we are advocating for the freedom of LGBT people who are struggling with unwanted desires, feelings, or behaviours to seek and receive the help they want and need. We are advocating for the freedom of doctors, counsellors, pastors, and lay people to help those in need. We are advocating for the freedom to preach the Bible, which speaks about the reality that LGBT people can experience change: “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God”. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).137

9. Abusive or otherwise questionable

methods used within psychotherapy or counselling

With rare exceptions, the methods and procedures used by SOGIECE proponents can sometimes be difficult to document and scrutinize as they usually happen behind closed doors. Furthermore, in many cases, SOGIECE practitioners require confidentiality agreements before they start providing their “services”.

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Recent court litigation in which victims and survivors of these pseudo-scientific practices have managed to come forward have served as a valuable opportunity to know more about the techniques implemented by these “therapists”. Undercover investigations by media outlets or survivors accounts reported by the media have started to cast more light into some of the methods used. The following is just an overview of a few of them. 9.1. Nudity In the case brought against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Homosexuality/Healing (JONAH),138 plaintiffs explained that part of the “therapy” involved activities in the nude. This was confirmed by one of the “therapy” providers, who explained that nudity was used to de-stigmatize the male body139 and confirmed that, in their view, “it was important for a client to get completely nude because that’s the most vulnerable place symbolically and psychically”.140 Furthermore, a number of activities required that both participants and staff members be completely naked.141 One of the specific exercises explained in the litigation was one in which the client would associate a piece of clothing with a self-limiting belief to consciously state his intention to shed such beliefs as he removes the articles of clothing.