Conversion Therapy

Outline:I. IntroductionII. Is Being Gay a Choice? III. The "Success" of Conversion TherapyIV. SourcesI. IntroductionI would just like to begin by thanking my opponent, Dr. Ivan, for accepting this debate. It's an honor to debate a family doctor, a person who is very educated in this topic. Regardless of the outcome, I'm glad to have this opportunity to debate against such an expert!My argument will enforce the belief that homosexuality is not a choice. I will also analyze how "successful" Conversion Therapy is. Personally, I am discontented with Conversion Therapy, or electroshock therapy. I see it as more of torture; to associate people's homosexual impulses with fear and pain. However, my argument will not consist of mere opinions. I will primary rely on science and reliable sources to support my points in my argument. I also urge my opponent to discuss how homosexual behavior is "satanic," and how successful he finds Conversion Therapy to be.II. Is Being Gay a Choice? The age-old question: is being gay a choice? Some conservative and religious people may say that, yes, it is a choice; an unnatural and sinful choice where people willingly turn their backs against God to pursue "sexually immoral" acts. Many modern studies have shown that, however, homosexuality is completely natural. Recent studies have found that homosexuality is a genetic trait, rather than a decision or a thing that is caused by "media" and culture. 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 "gay gene." 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 electrolysis, his team was able to isolate this "gay gene," (S1).Homosexuality is not only found in humans, but in other animals. Homosexuality is found in all living species (except for asexual organisms) (S2). According to an observational study conducted in Yale University, researchers has confidently confirmed this belief (S3). These animals lack the ability to even grasp the concept of sin and God, so to claim that homosexuality is a delliberate action against God is utter boondoggle, seeing as animals do it, not to intentially go against God, but because it is in homosexual animals' nature.III. The "Success" of Conversion TherapyConversion Therapy is a psychological treatment to change a homosexual person's sexual orientation to heterosexual 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).My opponent has claimed that Conversion Therapy has a "99% success rate." As to how my opponent has gotten such information and what he necessarily defines as "success" is beyond me. Ironically, the actual success rate of Conversion Therapy ranges from 11% to 37 (S5), (S6). 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 (S7).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, (S8). And according to GoodTherapy.org, out of fifty-five transgender teens, 25% have committed suicide (S9).IV. 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.religioustolerance.org...S8) http://whatstheharm.net...S9) http://www.goodtherapy.org...