Despite widespread opposition from medical and mental health organizations, tens of thousands of LGBTQ youth in the U.S. will be subjected to anti-gay “conversion therapy” during their lifetime, a new report estimates.
Released this month by the Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, the report estimates that 698,000 LGBTQ Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 have undergone conversion therapy at some point in their lives. About 350,000 of those received that treatment as adolescents.
The report also estimates that 20,000 LGBTQ youths currently between the ages of 13 and 17 will be subjected to conversion therapy from a licensed health care professional before they turn 18. An additional 57,000 will be subjected to the controversial practice from a religious or spiritual adviser before age 18.
“I think many people do not realize that conversion therapy is still being used, particularly by licensed health care professionals,” Mallory, who is state and local policy director at the Williams Institute, told HuffPost.
Conversion therapy, also called “reparative therapy” and “ex-gay therapy,” has been known to include methods such as talk therapy, electroshock therapy and even treating LGBTQ identity as an addiction, not unlike drugs or alcohol.
Read the full story at the Huffington Post
