Conversion Therapy

Outline:I. IntroductionII. Is Being Gay a Choice? III. The "Success" of Conversion TherapyIV. Is Conversion Therapy TortureV. SourcesI. IntroductionI appreciate my opponent for accepting this debate. I anticipate for this to be a civil debate that will inform and persuade people on this topic.My argument will enforce the belief that homosexuality is not a choice or "a fad." I will also analyze how "successful" Conversion Therapy is. My argument will primarily consist on reliable accounts, data and studies on conversion therapy.II. Is Being Gay a Choice? Is being homosexual a choice? Some may say "yes, it is a choice; an unnatural and sinful choice where people willingly turn their backs against God to pursue 'sexually immoral' acts." However, contrary to these skewed beliefs, modern studies have shown that homosexuality is natural. A founder of Reparative Therapy, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, claims that Homosexuality is a "social construct," and that "all people are heterosexual."Recent studies have found that homosexuality is a genetic trait. According to a study conducted by Dr. Tuck C. Ngun and his team at the University California, a gene known as the "Xq28 Marker" is believed to be the genetic trait for homosexuality. To find this, Ngun and his team gathered 37 pairs of twins in which one was homosexual while the other was heterosexual. His team took a sample of blood from each volunteer and through DNA gel electrophoresis, his team was able to isolate what they claim to be the "gay gene," or Xq28 Marker (S1).Bear in mind: Homosexuality is not restricted to just humans, and can be observed in other species. In fact, homosexuality is found in all living species, except for asexual organisms (S2). According to an observational study conducted in Yale University, researchers have confidently confirmed this belief (S3). Homosexual animals lack the ability to even grasp the concept of "sin" and "God," so to claim that homosexuality is a deliberate action against God is utter boondoggle!III. The "Success" of Conversion TherapyConversion Therapy is a psychological treatment to change a homosexual person's sexual orientation to heterosexual, commonly through electroshock therapy. Conversion Therapy is fairly controversial, and for good reasons: practitioners rewire homosexual men and women to fear their homosexual impulses by associating homosexual ideas with pain (S4).While some may argue that Conversion Therapy is effective in "praying the gay away," the actual success rate of Conversion Therapy ranges from 11% to 37% (S5), (S6). However, what is defined as "successful" varies. According to an article I previously stated,"success in therapy has been defined in various ways... [such as] behavior to continued homosexual attraction in the context of celibacy," (S7). Dr. Robert Spitzer conducted a study on 143 "ex-gays" who went through Conversion Therapy. He reported that 89% of the men still had feelings of attraction to people of the same-sex (S8).Conversion Therapy is very counter-productive in fact. Many people involved in Conversion Therapy have committed or attempted suicide. For example, Bobby Griffith was a homosexual male who came out to his family at 17. Pressured by the stigma from his family and church against homosexuality, he committed suicide by the age of 20, (S9). And according to a study conducted by GoodTherapy.org, out of fifty-five transgender teens, 25%, have committed suicide (S10).Alan Chambers,former leader of EXODUS International, the largest ex-gay organization for over 30 years, has recently retracted his views on Conversion Therapy. He used to believe that Conversion Therapy was "righteous," but now believes that Conversion Therapy, as he says, is "I know that there are [homosexual] people that are so ashamed of who they are, that God couldn't love them for who they are, and that is something that will haunt me until the day I die... No, I don't believe [you can change someone's sexual attraction]." He said that practically 99% of people in reparative therapy, including himself, haven't successfully converted to heterosexuality.IV. Is Conversion Therapy Torture?Torture is, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary (S11), the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something.Conversion therapy is clearly a dangerous therapeutic practice designed to "pray the gay away." It usually involves using methods such as tying one's hands to a chair and putting ice on their hands, or shocking them while showing them pictures of homosexual acts to associate pain and fear with their homosexual urges. As I have explained before, Conversion therapy is no less than a fallable and flawed system, usually resulting in failure, and sometimes even suicide. The majority of patients still identify themselves as homosexuals, and those who aren't have said that they still feel these homosexual urges, and if not for the emotional trauma from the therapy, they would likely embrace it. For example, Samuel Brinton, at age 12, was forced to go to conversion therapy. In therapy, his hands were burned with wires and frozen with ice while he was shown images of men hugging. He was electrocuted for a month while shown explicit pictures of men (S12). The fact that a 12-year-old was forced to endure this torture simply because of his sexuality is appalling.Many humans rights groups have called for the illegalization of Conversion Therapy for obvious reasons. In fact, the UN has publicly condemned Conversion Therapy (S13). On the 24th of January, 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Council presented the "Public Consultation on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity." With this document, the UN Human Rights Council wished for the international community to implement "human rights instruments... to overcome violence and discrimination against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and to identify and address the root causes of discrimination..." and to "end the practice of 'aversion'/ 'conversion' therapy (S14). Conversion therapy is a flawed and harmful practice that profits off of the torment, and even suicides, of patients. According to many prominent anti-Conversion Therapy activists such as Samantha Ames, leader of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, it's practiced by either trained or untrained therapists or priests. As Ames claims, "Conversion Therapy supports an industry which is profiting off of the harm, and sometimes death of kids, and to one degree or another, conversion therapy is happening in every state of the country."V. SourcesS1) http://www.telegraph.co.uk......S2) https://en.wikipedia.org......S3) http://www.yalescientific.org......S4) https://en.wikipedia.org......S5) http://www.ispn-psych.org......S6) https://en.wikipedia.org......S7) http://www.ispn-psych.org...;S8) http://www.religioustolerance.org......S9) http://whatstheharm.net......S10) http://www.goodtherapy.org...) https://en.oxforddictionaries.com...;S12) http://www.dailymail.co.uk...;S13) http://www.politicalresearch.org...;S14) http://www.ohchr.org...;