All Out, a global LGBT rights organization that fights for equality by connecting supporters at the grass roots level in many countries, has created an online tool that has one purpose; to identify and eradicate the heinous gay “cure” therapies, no matter where they are or what they are.
As a non-profit organization, All Out gets its funding for all of its programs from its members. The logic behind this tool is to give their members and international counterparts a means of eliminating the gay “cure” therapies, for good. The Interim Executive Director of All Out, Leandro Ramos, stated “No one should be told that their love is a disease.”
Over time, mainstream thought is catching up with All Out, as presently California, New Jersey, Oregon and the District of Columbia have all passed legislation that licensed people cannot inflict this treatment on minors. 18 states have begun the legislative process After all, adults can consent for themselves. Minors cannot. The angst has always been about forcing teenagers to endure a “curative,” “reparative,” or “conversion” therapy. We have all heard stories or known people whose overzealous family members or clergy members, somewhere, were asked to fix the child and rid the child of this “disease.” The interested parties in this battle, the gay teenagers and the right winged fundamentalists could not be more polarized.
How can there be a cure if homosexuality is no longer a disease? Every reputable medical organization or association has weighed in on this issue, and every single one has stated that “curative” therapies, regardless of which one, are detrimental to a minor. All “therapies” have been shown to worsen a teen’s self-esteem, encourage family rejection, and likely are related to the incidence of depression and suicide. Other damages may occur as well, adequately demonstrated by the untoward effects of electroshock therapy. So, there is no data to support the benefits of “conversion” therapy, but there is a growing body of evidence to support the harms caused by it.
The American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry states the following in a practice paper, “Given that there is no evidence that efforts to alter sexual orientation are effective, beneficial or necessary, and the possibility that they carry the risk of significant harm, such interventions are contraindicated.” The American Academy of Pediatrics states that “directed therapy to change the child’s orientation is contraindicated.”
As the rest of the world grapples with this issue, many governments are changing their perspectives.
In England, the Prime Minister David Cameron said in April that a future Conservative government would act to end so called “gay cure” therapy. Others in Parliament said cure therapy was “dangerous nonsense,” and Conservatives, Tories and Labor Party leaders all concurred; conversion therapy has to stop.
So, if you see a sign, bulletin board etc. about gay “cures” or “conversion”, All Out urges us to report it here: GAY CURE WATCH . With power of the people, All Out will “get them shut down once and for all.”
