Plans to ban 'gay conversion therapy' - UK

facepalm.

 

Is there a "bondage conversion therapy" to assist the recovery from being bedbound?

 

I do think it's a flaw in the hardware.

 

Article on the situation re: conversion therapy in the US.
https://www.damemagazine.com/2018/07/31/why-is-gay-conversion-therapy-still-legal/

In it a link to a report (2000)
"Therapies Focused on Attempts to Change Sexual Orientation (Reparative or Conversion Therapies)
POSITION STATEMENT

"The validity, efficacy and ethics of clinical attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation have been challenged (3,4,5,6). To date, there are no scientifically rigorous outcome studies to determine either the actual efficacy or harm of "reparative" treatments. There is sparse scientific data about selection criteria, risks versus benefits of the treatment, and long-term outcomes of "reparative" therapies."

https://web.archive.org/web/2011040...entsandRelated/PositionStatements/200001.aspx

eta:
https://twitter.com/user/status/1034940628487090181

 

I've always been baffled that anyone would care who anyone else loves and sleeps with. Maybe it's a way to maintain power by encouraging hate against certain groups of people.

I remember years ago when Jon Stewart had a famous, religious conservative on his show. MH talked about how gays choose their "lifestyle," and Jon pointed out that gays no more choose their sexuality than straight people do. MH had no response to that, which I thought was pretty telling.

 

On a triathlon forum a few years ago, some idiot was saying being gay was a choice.

I asked him to share with all what he was thinking the moment he decided to be straight.

The implication being that if he chose to be straight, that he was having gay fantasies / behaviour that he had to 'not chose'. So he, in effect, would've been admitting he was a closeted homosexual or bisexual.

 

I think I first heard of homosexuality in 3rd grade. I recall my immediate reaction being indignation. I assumed that people were doing it to be contrarian; I was a rule-follower so breaking norms went against my sensibilities and disposition.

That view didn't last through the day it was spawned. I was not raised religious and grew up in a liberal area. Had this not been the case, I see no reason why my initial impressions would not have been affirmed and become deeply ingrained and mixed with other notions of the sort.

For what it's worth about 2/3 of American adults support same-sex marriage. I believe about 3/4 in the UK are unopposed to it. So this is a case where people are coming around, and quite quickly, at least in certain lowercase-'L'-liberal nations.

 

A longitudinal birth cohort study of early life conditions, psychosocial factors, and emerging adolescent sexual orientation
4 August 2019
Yin Xu
Sam Norton
Qazi Rahman

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.21894

 

Ban on conversion therapy 'absolutely possible' - government 'dragging its feet', says Labour shadow home secretary

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-03-12...ng-its-feet-says-labour-shadow-home-secretary

 

Asexual people are 10% more likely, compared to other sexual orientations, to be recommended and undergo conversion therapy, according to the National LGBT survey in 2018 (UK).

Asexuality isn't included in the UK Equality Act 2010. This is the case nearly everywhere else in the world as well (New York is the only exception I'm aware of; they do mention asexuality in their sexual orientation non-discrimination act. And the Netherlands? See ETA comment below.).

This could mean that even if gay conversion therapy is banned, asexual conversion therapy might still continue.

StoneWall (the largest LGBTQIA+ rights organisation in Europe) in collaboration with activist Yasmin Benoit, are currently doing a study to collect data, which they then will use to try and create legislation and policies to protect asexual folks in many areas, including healthcare.

More info about the project here:
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/stonewall-x-yasmin-benoit-ace-project

For those of you who don't know, the psychiatric/DSM definition for hypoactive sexual desire disorder is basically the same as the definition for asexuality. But asexuality is not a mental illness or a behavioural problem, nor is it a hormonal imbalance. It's not a choice either, just like being gay or bisexual isn't a choice. It's just a natural variation in human sexuality. The DSM does allow for an exception if the patient self-identifies as asexual, but since most people (including healthcare professionals) know little to nothing about asexuality, that's a massive "if"...

ETA: If I understand this tweet correctly, as of December 2022 asexuality is now legally recognised as a sexual orientation in the Netherlands, and therefore also protected against discrimination?

 

It's bizarre to call low or absent desire for sex a disorder. It's only a problem if it bothers you.

 

So true. Also, asexual doesn't mean "no sexuality at all". Being asexual only means that you don't experience sexual attraction towards anyone (regardless of gender), or maybe very little and/or very rarely. The label isn't about whether you actually have sex or not. Sexual attraction is different from libido (sex drive), and some/many asexual folks do have sex and enjoy it.

I first realised how much I didn't know about this when I was reading a book that touched upon the intersectionality of disability activism, feminism and LGBTQIA+ activism. I found asexuality especially interesting in this context, seeing how often it is wrongly medicalised and psychologised, and how many common misconceptions there are.

For example, asexuality is often wrongly assumed to be a psychological response to past sexual trauma. I really don't think (hope!) anyone could get away with saying something like that about homosexuality nowadays, so why is harmful misinformation about asexuality still not being challenged more firmly?

I also learned that disabled and chronically ill asexuals are often not welcomed by other disability activists and asexual activists. It's very complicated territory, but I think the author summed it up really well:

"The disabled community has spent a long time fighting the idea that disabled people are, or should be, asexual. The asexual community has struggled for as long as it has existed to prove that asexuality has nothing to do with disability. A disabled asexual [person] complicates both these political agendas."

Ultimately, both groups are obviously fighting for the same thing: bodily autonomy as a fundamental right. It’s about power, agency and freedom of choice. Conversion therapy goes against all that.

 

I just scrolled back in this thread and spotted the above. I think it was probably 2019, for Pride month, that Stonewall ran a survey in the UK which concluded that somewhere in the low 50s percent (54%?) of people supported same-sex marriage. I remember being astonished to hear that it was so low, because that wasn't the impression I'd got.

 

According to a 2012 study, of all marginalised sexualities, asexual people were "evaluated more negatively, viewed as less human, and less valued as contact partners, relative to heterosexuals and other sexual minorities". "Heterosexuals were also willing to discriminate against asexuals (matching discrimination against homosexuals)."

 

Council of Europe, Commissioner of Human rights: 'Nothing to cure: putting an end to so-called “conversion therapies” for LGBTI people'
https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissi...called-conversion-therapies-for-lgbti-people#

Very informative article, worth a read

"SOGIE conversion practices are discriminatory and harmful to #LGBTI people.
#CouncilofEurope states should end these practices through a comprehensive #HumanRights-based approach."

Sadly they are still excluding people on the asexual and aromantic spectrums. I don't understand why.

 

#BanConversionTherapy is an initiative by Stonewall UK.

Write to PM Rishi Sunak to help Ban Conversion Therapy.

https://stonewall.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/dear-rishi-bct

 

Stonewall statement on the UK Government's failure to ban conversion therapy
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-...uk-governments-failure-ban-conversion-therapy

 

A blog post on asexual conversion therapy, by researcher Canton Winer

https://cantonwiner.substack.com/p/asexual-conversion-therapy

Some more new research data from the UK on the discrimination of asexual people, including conversion therapy, also available in a report by Yasmin Benoit and Stonewall, published in October 2023:

New research: shining a light on ‘dehumanising’ discrimination faced by ace people
https://stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/new-research-shining-light-‘dehumanising’-discrimination-faced-ace-people

 

“In 2024, it’s time to talk about asexuality – and to finally tackle the dehumanising discrimination asexual women face”
https://www.stylist.co.uk/opinion/a...hobia-yasmin-benoit-stonewall-research/855236