It’s a simple fact that some people who have same-sex sexual attractions don’t want to experience those feelings. Some of them seek out counsellors or professional psychotherapists who can help them resist or overcome those unwanted feelings—what critics often call “conversion therapy.”
Rather than respect the freedom and autonomy of those who choose not to embrace a “gay” identity, LGBT activists have chosen to perpetrate an elaborate hoax—on legislators, the media, and the American public. The victims of this hoax are drawn in by lurid tales of “aversive” treatments (like the use of electric shocks) in coercive environments (like “conversion therapy camps”). When the other side is challenged to document these horror stories, we then see the “bait and switch,” with some activists insisting that “voluntary talk therapy is just as harmful.”
The result has been the passage of laws in 18 states to prohibit sexual orientation change efforts with minors by licensed mental health providers, as well as a push to further expand the scope of such bans. In The War on Psychotherapy: When Sexual Politics, Gender Ideology, and Mental Health Collide, Christopher Doyle, a licensed psychotherapist, and leader in the #TherapyEquality movement with the National Task Force for Therapy Equality, describes in frightening detail this unprecedented attack upon core ethical and legal principles regarding psychotherapy, such as client autonomy, privacy, respect for religious convictions, and the free speech rights of therapists. He also presents decades of scientific research that demonstrates sexual attraction and gender identity are not fixed or innate, but are fluid and commonly change, with and without therapeutic intervention.
Wednesday, October 30, Doyle is taking his message to FRC headquarters for a special Speaker Series event called “The War on Psychotherapy: When Sexual Politics, Gender Identity, and Mental Health Collide.” Join us at noon—either in person or by live stream—by visiting our website.
