Over 1,300 conversion therapists are still torturing LGBTQ+ people, despite state bans

Even though 22 U.S. states have banned so-called conversion therapy for minors, more than 1,320 such “therapists” remain active across the U.S., including in states with bans in place, according to a new report from the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project.

The report, entitled “It’s Still Happening,” had knowledgeable researchers — experts in “identifying conversion therapy practices and the evolving ways practitioners market themselves online” — look for licensed therapists, counselors, social workers, and unlicensed practitioners who “advocate for and/or directly engage in” conversion therapy.

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Many of these individuals avoid identifying themselves online with terms like “reparative therapy,” “ex-gay,” and “unwanted same-sex attraction.” Instead, they discreetly advertise their services using terms like “sexual attraction fluidity exploration,” “rapid-onset gender dysphoria,” “sexual addiction,” “sexual wholeness,” “sexual integrity,” and claims to help clients “align their related behaviors with their faith.”

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To identify current practitioners, the Trevor Project researchers evaluated each individual’s “past documented statements, research, and publications, certifications from associations that endorse conversion therapy, [and] referrals by other known conversion therapists.”

Even though some of the identified practitioners only work with adults, others work with minors in religious settings, particularly in the South and Midwest Census regions where 61% percent of the currently practicing conversion therapists were identified. A religious affiliation alone wasn’t sufficient enough to declare a person as a conversion therapist, the Trevor Project said.

Researchers also acknowledged that they likely undercounted practitioners since some likely identify themselves in closed online forums, private social media groups, and message boards. Some practitioners operate primarily via word-of-mouth referrals and some quietly offer remote services online that aren’t publicly advertised.

“There is a widespread and expanding belief in some regions of the country that conversion therapy is no longer being practiced,” the Trevor Project wrote in its report.

“As conversion therapy is increasingly underground and conducted in secret, with many practitioners not publicly advertising their services in a way that can be documented, this data likely underrepresents the prevalence and reach of conversion therapy practitioners across the country today,” the organization added.

“Policymakers at all levels of government, state licensing boards, professional associations, accreditation agencies, the healthcare industry and related businesses, and faith communities must act with urgency to bring us closer to a future that is free from sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts,” the organization wrote.

Conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice that purports to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity, has been “condemned by every major medical and mental health organization as unscientific, ineffective, and dangerous,” The Trevor Project added.

A 2013 survey showed that 84% of former patients who tried ex-gay therapy said it inflicted lasting shame and emotional harm. Additionally, a March 2022 peer-reviewed study from The Trevor Project showed that 13% of LGBTQ+ youth nationwide had reported being subjected to conversion therapy. Of those, 83% were subjected to it before reaching the age of 18.

The 2022 study showed that young people who underwent conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide afterward. Numerous conversion therapy advocates have later come out as still gay and apologized for the harm that conversion therapy causes.

The methods of so-called conversion therapists include encouraging queer people not to masturbate, redirecting their sexual energy into exercise, “covert aversion” (a fancy name for imagining possible negative consequences of being queer), Bible study, directing same-sex sexual desire onto opposite-sex partners, inflicting pain and humiliation anytime LGBTQ+ feelings arise, and forcing people to act out stereotypical gender roles in behavior and personal appearance.

Some state legislative bans posit that the practice violates state licensing standards because the methods are ineffective and harm patients. Other states have said that practitioners who purport to change an individual’s LGBTQ+ identity are, in essence, using false advertising to market their services, something which can violate other state regulatory business statutes.

The Christian anti-LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — defined as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — is trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn state bans on conversion therapy for minors by claiming that the bans violate practitioners’ rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. The Supreme Court recently turned down one of the ADF’s cases arguing this very thing.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via chat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.