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Counseling

Freedom

For All

Read It

Counseling

Freedom

For All

Read It

Therapy to Reduce Same-Sex Attraction is

NOT harmful

Therapy to Reduce Same-Sex Attraction is

NOT harmful

27 US States and multiple countries around the world have banned so called conversion therapy. One big problem is that these bans are so broad they ban any type of counseling for people who want to change their sexual orientation.


Another problem is that the study used to justify these bans is based on a faulty conclusion: that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts increase suicide risks. Ruth Institute Senior Research Associate Fr. Paul Sullins discovered the methodological flaw and has published research to refute it.


His reanalysis of the same data showed that its conclusion was flawed because it had included suicide attempts made before the therapy occurred. When Fr. Sullins corrected this error, the claim that therapy caused suicidal tendencies evaporated. In fact, the evidence suggested that therapy actually reduced suicide risk.

27 US States and multiple countries around the world have banned so called conversion therapy. One big problem is that these bans are so broad they ban any type of counseling for people who want to change their sexual orientation.


Another problem is that the study used to justify these bans is based on a faulty conclusion: that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts increase suicide risks. Ruth Institute Senior Research Associate Fr. Paul Sullins discovered the methodological flaw and has published research to refute it.


His reanalysis of the same data showed that its conclusion was flawed because it had included suicide attempts made before the therapy occurred. When Fr. Sullins corrected this error, the claim that therapy caused suicidal tendencies evaporated. In fact, the evidence suggested that therapy actually reduced suicide risk.

Common questions About "Conversion Therapy":

Conversion therapy is a loaded term used to oppose therapeutic interventions associated with same-sex attraction. 

Torture, at least in the United States, is already illegal. Talking to a counselor or member of the clergy about these issues isn’t harmful and shouldn’t be prohibited.

A more accurate term would be change allowing therapy or sexual orientation change efforts.

The best scientific evidence we have says there is no gay gene. And even the American Psychological Association said there isn’t any consensus on why individuals develop sexual orientation, be it straight, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, etc. 

Honestly, it is complicated and has multiple causes. Even the American Psychological Association says that there isn’t consensus among scientists about why certain sexual orientations develop, even though people have studied genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences. 

People change all the time, and we have interviewed several who have. The story of even one person changing dispels the myth that no one can change. Listen to the stories of people who have changed: Charlene Cothran, Paul Darrow, Elizabeth Woning, and Hudson Byblow, and discover more about why they wanted to change. Or you can visit the Changed Movement and read more stories.

People Change ALl the Time

LEARN their Stories

Counseling Freedom for All: Expert Testimonies

Hear More Stories

Paul Darrow moved to Manhattan and became a pleasure-seeker, an international fashion model, and an atheist. He enthusiastically embraced his addictions and gay identity for several decades. However, a series of grace-filled events turned his life around in amazing ways. 

Charlene was a staunch advocate for gay rights, a member of several gay pride groups, and the founder of the successful lesbian magazine, Venus. Then she decided to leave it all behind while in the midst of a NYC gay pride parade.

Hudson Byblow, who once identified as gay, speaks about human sexuality in accordance with Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in a personalized way, formed by his own journey of coming home to the Catholic Church – the last place the world said he would ever look!

Elizabeth Woning was a lesbian minister, but when she dug deeper into the Scriptures, as well as her own problems, she realized she didn’t have to continue living that way. She is now happily married to a man.

Counseling freedom in the News

People Change ALl the Time

LEARN their Stories

Counseling Freedom for All: Expert Testimonies

Hear More Stories

Paul Darrow moved to Manhattan and became a pleasure-seeker, an international fashion model, and an atheist. He enthusiastically embraced his addictions and gay identity for several decades. However, a series of grace-filled events turned his life around in amazing ways. 

Charlene was a staunch advocate for gay rights, a member of several gay pride groups, and the founder of the successful lesbian magazine, Venus. Then she decided to leave it all behind while in the midst of a NYC gay pride parade.

Hudson Byblow, who once identified as gay, speaks about human sexuality in accordance with Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in a personalized way, formed by his own journey of coming home to the Catholic Church – the last place the world said he would ever look!

Elizabeth Woning was a lesbian minister, but when she dug deeper into the Scriptures, as well as her own problems, she realized she didn’t have to continue living that way. She is now happily married to a man.

The academic Debate

Ruth Institute Senior Research Associate Fr. Paul Sullins challenged a widely-cited study that purported to show that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) therapy to reduce same sex attraction increases suicide risk. Fr. Sullins’ reanalysis of the same data showed that its conclusion was flawed because it had included suicide attempts made before the therapy occurred. When Fr. Sullins corrected this error, the claim that therapy caused suicidal tendencies evaporated. In fact, the evidence suggested that therapy actually reduced suicide risk.

You can access the entirety of the exchange between Fr. Sullins et al. and Blosnich et al. here:

Download the executive summary and Ruth Institute Position Paper.

The academic Debate

Ruth Institute Senior Research Associate Fr. Paul Sullins challenged a widely-cited study that purported to show that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) therapy to reduce same sex attraction increases suicide risk. Fr. Sullins’ reanalysis of the same data showed that its conclusion was flawed because it had included suicide attempts made before the therapy occurred. When Fr. Sullins corrected this error, the claim that therapy caused suicidal tendencies evaporated. In fact, the evidence suggested that therapy actually reduced suicide risk.

You can access the entirety of the exchange between Fr. Sullins et al. and Blosnich et al. here:

Download the executive summary and Ruth Institute Position Paper.

General Problems with claiming that

SOCE Efforts are harmful

A large body of work claims to show that SOCE is ineffective and harmful. This research is flawed in two major ways:

  • Failing to take into account pre-therapy distress
  • Including Only LGBT Identified Individuals

Most studies in the last 20 years have had one or both of these flaws.

Fr. Paul Sullins

General Problems with claiming that

SOCE Efforts are harmful

A large body of work claims to show that SOCE is ineffective and harmful. This research is flawed in two major ways:

  • Failing to take into account pre-therapy distress
  • Including Only LGBT Identified Individuals

Most studies in the last 20 years have had one or both of these flaws.

Fr. Paul Sullins

How Fr. Sullins' Research Fits

into the debate over the correlation between SOCE efforts and suicidal tendencies

Fr. Sullins’ research responds to a study done by Blosnich et al. which claims that individuals who have same-sex attraction that engage in SOCE have increased suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.

Sullins responded that the correlation only exists because the participants were

more suicidal

to begin with. 

Once that is accounted for

the correlation disappears.

Even with multiple rounds of critiques

the Sullins statistical analysis still stands.

How Fr. Sullins' Research Fits

into the debate over the correlation between SOCE efforts and suicidal tendencies

Fr. Sullins’ research responds to a study done by Blosnich et al. which claims that individuals who have same-sex attraction that engage in SOCE have increased suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.

Sullins responded that the correlation only exists because the participants were

more suicidal

to begin with. 

Once that is accounted for

the correlation disappears.

Even with multiple rounds of critiques

the Sullins statistical analysis still stands.

A critic of the SUllins data said:

“The purpose of sexual orientation change effort is to change an individual same sex sexual orientation to an other-sex orientation, typically from gay, lesbian to straight. These types of efforts seek to eradicate same sex sexual orientations and promote heterosexual orientations.


This is already in and of itself a violation of both sexual rights and human rights independent of any positive or negative consequence on well-being.


It is unethical to treat something that is not a disorder or pathology.


Same sex sexual orientations are normal and are not considered pathologies. Thus, sexual orientation and change efforts are clearly unethical.”

A critic of the SUllins data said:

“The purpose of sexual orientation change effort is to change an individual same sex sexual orientation to an other-sex orientation, typically from gay, lesbian to straight. These types of efforts seek to eradicate same sex sexual orientations and promote heterosexual orientations.


This is already in and of itself a violation of both sexual rights and human rights independent of any positive or negative consequence on well-being.


It is unethical to treat something that is not a disorder or pathology.


Same sex sexual orientations are normal and are not considered pathologies. Thus, sexual orientation and change efforts are clearly unethical.”

This opinion illustrates that the critics of change-allowing therapy or SOCE do not care whether individuals are helped, nor whether the individual wants to seek therapy. This sort of critic is unlikely to be persuaded by any data.

Therefore we can conclude that client-directed, client-chosen 

talk-therapy should be freely available to all.

Download the Press Kit Here

This opinion illustrates that the critics of change-allowing therapy or SOCE do not care whether individuals are helped, nor whether the individual wants to seek therapy. This sort of critic is unlikely to be persuaded by any data.

Therefore we can conclude that client-directed, client-chosen talk-therapy should be freely available to all.

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