LGBTQ+ conversion therapy thrives even as bans gather pace

Doctors once prescribed long, hard bike rides and testicular transplants to cure gay men of their “sexual abnormality”. More than a century on, fear and controversy still dog the secretive world of conversion therapy.

From injections to electric shocks, prayer to rape, myriad methods are peddled by medics, counsellors and moralists to suppress the sexual desire or gender identity of LGBTQ+ patients.

Interviews with practitioners and patients worldwide reveal a deep divergence over practices that dozens of medical associations have condemned as ineffective and harmful.

In Egypt, a young man sought the help of a famous TV doctor on the advice of a friend he came out to. Years later, he remains traumatised by an anal examination.

In post-Soviet Georgia, a teenage lesbian was injected with hormones as a “cure” initiated by her mother.

The prayers of a Mexican pastor persuaded a trans woman to cut off her own hair in a bid to obliterate her identity.

All are examples of modern conversion therapy, which thrives in the shadows even as moves to ban it gather pace globally.

“Wherever homophobia and transphobia exist, there will be a form of conversion therapy available as well,” said Randy Thomas, a former vice president at Exodus International, a U.S-based umbrella organisation of “ex-gay” Christian groups.

In 2013, Exodus was disbanded by its then-president, Alan Chambers, who apologised for promoting “sexual orientation change efforts” and for the “pain and the hurt” it caused.

Conversion therapy did not end with Exodus, though.

SECRET

Its chief advocates are often religious or conservative groups. Many work in secret, but those who are open say it works, is safe and that adults should be free to undergo it.

“They need to want it, to have decided to do it, and to know they will have a hard time,” said Heba Kotb, an Egyptian doctor specialising in sexual medicine who treats gay men.

“The main line of treatment is to replace the programming of this person, who is leaning towards same-sex attraction. We remove this and replace it with heterosexual attraction.”

Bans on forms of conversion therapy have been proposed in at least 13 countries, according to research by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Brazil, Ecuador, Malta, Albania and Germany partially or fully outlaw the practices. Argentina, Fiji, Nauru, Uruguay, Samoa and Switzerland, as well as Taiwan, have indirect bans.

But with discrimination against LGBTQ+ people widespread, conversion therapy remains rife in every region of the world.

Its full extent is hard to gauge, but global studies indicate its existence in every region of the world.

CONSENT?

Taha Metwally was 18 when he revealed his feelings for a friend; the friend suggested he see a doctor who could heal him.

“I just (went) because I loved him,” Metwally, now 28, said from Paris, where he moved from Egypt three years ago.

In their second session, Kotb conducted an anal examination on Metwally without explaining why it was necessary, he said.

“She took something without speaking with me about my consent,” said Metwally, now an LGBTQ+ activist.

Kotb declined to discuss Metwally’s allegations with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, citing patient confidentiality, but said she only performs anal examinations with patient consent.

“I have a 100% cure rate,” she said. “I have treated no less than 3,000 cases of gays, all over the Arab world.”

Metwally says it took him years to deal with the trauma, with numerous studies showing a correlation between conversion therapy and suicide attempts.

Mental health professional organisations in 22 countries have condemned conversion therapy as ineffective and harmful, according to a 2020 report by the advocacy group ILGA-World.

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