'Conversion therapy' for gay patients unethical, says professional body (in UK)
Source: The Guardian
Britain's biggest professional body for psychotherapists has instructed members that it is unethical for them to attempt to "convert" gay people to being heterosexual, formalising a policy change long demanded by rights groups.
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy has written to its near-30,000 members to inform them of the new guidelines. The letter says the BACP "opposes any psychological treatment such as 'reparative' or 'conversion' therapy which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder, or based on the premise that the client/patient should change his/her sexuality". The body adds that it recognises World Health Organisation policy that says such therapies can cause severe harm to an individual's mental and physical health.
The statement, drawn up by the board of governors, ends: "BACP believes that socially inclusive, non-judgmental attitudes to people who identify across the diverse range of human sexualities will have positive consequences for those individuals, as well as for the wider society in which they live. There is no scientific, rational or ethical reason to treat people who identify within a range of human sexualities any differently from those who identify solely as heterosexual."
Conversion therapies are mainly associated with evangelical Christian groups in the US. It was long presumed that the vast majority of UK counsellors and psychotherapists recognised that these were widely discredited. But a 2009 survey of 1,300 therapists, psychoanalysts and psychiatrists found more than 200 had attempted to change at least one patient's sexual orientation, with 55 saying they were still offering such a therapy.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/01/conversion-therapy-gay-patients-unethical
The article ends mentioning California Gov. Jerry Brown signing a bill banning conversion therapy in his state for minors.
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on your bedroom wall and making a nonverbal demonstration for all onlookers how much you appreciate how girls wiggle and jiggle in order to truly be straight. 
