Conversion Therapy in the U.S.

Human Rights Research Center
Jun 30
7 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

June 30, 2025

Sexual and gender minority identities were recently removed from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders, the book psychologists use to diagnose patients with mental disorders. Before that, these identities were viewed as mental illnesses to be cured - the cure being “conversion therapy” during which patients would undergo electroshocks, institutionalization, and other “clinical treatment.” As we celebrate progress and mourn loss and regression, it is important to acknowledge the history of this harmful conversion “treatment” in the United States, and learn of the status of this treatment today. I will also be introducing films that depict conversion therapy and its harms.

History

The word “homosexual” was coined in the 19th century in the field of psychiatry. At the time, homosexuality was considered a disease to be cured, similarly to how addiction and other mental disorders were viewed. This was because early psychologists such as Dr. Sigmund Freud believed homosexuality was immature, deviant, and abnormal. Later, psychologists into the mid-20th century described homosexuality as an attachment disorder, featuring abnormal desires which aversive therapy or negative conditioning would rid the patient of. Thus, psychiatrists attempted to “cure” homosexuality through psychoanalysis, medication, electroshock therapy, and brain surgeries such as lobotomies. In addition to clinical justifications, religious justifications for conversion therapy ensued under the guise of saving someone’s eternal soul and preventing them from going to Hell. Exodus International was an organization that hosts religious conversion therapy, but their founder has since denounced the practice.

Around the time Exodus international was founded in the 1970s, sexologists, such as Dr. Alfred Kinsey, along with LGBTQ+ activists, raised the idea that homosexuality was a variation of the norm, as opposed to abnormal or deviant in nature. The American Psychological Association thus removed homosexuality from their diagnostic manual. In 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) followed suit by removing homosexuality from their International Classification of Diseases (ICD). These advances denounced conversion therapy as an appropriate “treatment” for something that was no longer being classified as abnormal and allowed researchers to expose the harms of conversion therapy, such as depression, anxiety, shame, low self-esteem, and suicide, revealing how it paradoxically contributed to many of the mental health issues it claimed to solve.

Conversion therapy has not been effective for changing sexual orientation, despite some anecdotal claims. One such claim supporting conversion therapy came from an early 2000’s study from Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, a psychiatrist and Columbia University Professor; however, he has since denounced this study and apologized for his support of conversion therapy. As Dr. Spitzer seemed to realize, changing one’s sexuality should not be a goal of clinical work in the first place.

Status of Conversion Therapy in 2025

According to the Trevor Project, over a thousand practitioners still provide conversion therapy. Many in the LGBTQ+ community and their allies fear a comeback in conversion therapy due to human rights attacks on primarily transgender youth in the United States.

While several states have laws against conversion therapy (including Pennsylvania, the state with the most conversion therapy camps, that recently enacted a ban), these bans have been challenged multiple times. There has been a recent uptick in these appeals, putting many minors at risk of being forced into conversion therapy. In March of 2025, after turning away similar cases attempting to undo the ban on conversion therapy, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case from Colorado therapist Kaley Chiles who “believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God's design, including their biological sex,” and claims that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy denies her right to free speech. Kaley Chiles claimed that the ban on conversion therapy limits her ability to treat LGBTQ+ individuals who want to prioritize their faith over their marginalized identity. This Colorado court case is set to be heard in October of 2025.

The Trump administration may have emboldened the Supreme Court to hear this case from Kaley Chiles, but this decision does not come out of nowhere. Back in 2023, when a similar case was presented to the Supreme Court but turned down, a couple of conservative justices indicated agreement with the idea that banning conversion therapy interferes with free speech and were willing to hear these cases. Now, as we witness the impact of Donald Trump’s second term and the US government being controlled by the Republican Party in all three branches, many fear an increasing number of judges will express willingness to consider the legality of conversion therapy.

Transgender/Gender-Nonconforming People

In recent years, we saw Donald Trump win the US presidency after running an aggressively anti-trans campaign, filled with hateful ads and scapegoating. We saw bans placed on sports and the military for transgender people. Thus, it is important to acknowledge how conversion therapy has been used to target transgender and gender-nonconforming populations specifically; similar to being a sexual minority, being trans was previously considered a mental illness. For instance, being a transgender woman was thought to stem from “autogynephilia” or a fetishistic disorder. It was only in 2013 that “gender identity disorder” was replaced with “gender dysphoria” in the DSM and was removed from the ICD in 2018. The term “transgender” itself wasn’t coined until 1960, a century after the term “homosexual” was coined, coming after many other terms for being transgender that are no longer widely used or accepted. It is only recently that being transgender is starting to be considered another variation of the norm, but we have seen setbacks.

Trans-specific conversion therapy practices may involve encouraging trans people to repress their identities to “live consistently with their biological sex” or “reconcile with their natal body” as Kaley Chiles intends. In conversion therapy, people who are transgender are forced to identify what causes them to want to transition, but, as opposed to the one genuine root (gender dysphoria), they are forced to state that mental illness, social trends, trauma, or misogyny is at the root of their transition. Many justify this therapy by stating that, unlike conversion therapy for sexual minorities, it hasn’t been proven harmful, though it has barely been researched. Meanwhile, the harms of being denied gender-affirming care have been supported through research. National bans on gender affirming care, including cutting gender-affirming care from Medicaid and banning gender-affirming care for youth, could be considered as a wide-scale conversion therapy effort against people who are trans.

Conversion Therapy In Film/Documentary

Elements of conversion therapy, such as viewing queerness as a mental illness, having people whittle down their queerness to just one “root,” and using harmful practices such as electroshock therapy are depicted in these films and documentaries:

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) - This late ‘90s film takes a dark comedy and aesthetic approach to the depiction of a conversion camp. This film depicts the reality that many of these camp staff are self-proclaimed ex-gays who have been “successfully converted” and depicts many real conversion therapy “treatments” such as electroshock therapy and group therapy. The film also depicts the reality that many children are sent to conversion camps by their parents and are rarely voluntarily admitted.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) - This film, also set in the ‘90s, depicts the harms of undergoing conversion therapy. It similarly depicts the pressure that parents put on their children to be converted to heterosexuality. This film and But I’m a Cheerleader depict housing insecurity - of which 28% of LGBT+ youth report experiencing - due to the characters needing to run away from their homes where they aren’t accepted.

Boy Erased (2018) - Based on a novel by the same name, Boy Erased follows the experiences of Gerrard Conley, who was just a teenager when he was admitted to the Love in Action conversion camp in Texas, a camp that uses methods similar to those of Alcoholics Anonymous to “make people straight.” He witnessed horrors such as his own peers attending mock funerals for hypothetical versions of themselves dying from HIV/AIDS. This film sheds light on religious motivations and ideals behind conversion therapy.

Pray Away (2021) - This documentary follows former practitioners and victims of conversion therapy, similarly depicting the reality of many practitioners grappling with their own identities or feeling guilt for their previous actions in leadership positions at these camps.

They/Them (2022) - This movie depicts some of the harms of conversion therapy such as electroshock therapy, misgendering, and denial of life-saving medical care for people who are trans.

Glossary

Autogynephilia - a man becoming sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as female.
Aversive - Causing strong discomfort or dislike.
Conversion therapy - also known as "reparative therapy" or "sexual orientation change efforts" (SOCE), these “treatments” are harmful and discredited practices aimed at altering a person's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Denounce - To declare something as no longer valid or good.
Deviant - Straying from social norms/expectations.
Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders - Used by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose patients with mental disorders, currently on its fifth edition
Electroshock therapy - Shocking someone with electricity to negatively condition someone to create aversion to a stimulus.
Gender-affirming care - Medical care, such as hormone medicine or surgery, that allows people to live and present as the gender they identify most with.
Gender dysphoria - The feeling a transgender or nonbinary person gets when experiencing their own body, and how it doesn’t align with their gender.
Gender-nonconforming - People whose expression of their gender does not align with prescribed norms or roles for their gender.
International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - System used to globally categorize diseases.
Lobotomy - A brain surgery practiced in the 20th century meant to rid people of mental illness.
Marginalized - Communities that are oppressed or mistreated due to who they are.
Misgendering - When a transgender or nonbinary person is referred to with incorrect pronouns.
Misogyny - Oppression against or mistreatment of women.
Paradoxically - In contradiction.
Practitioner - Someone who works in clinical practice.
Scapegoating - to blame someone for something bad happening to someone else, when they had nothing to do with it.
Sexual and Gender Minority - Any identity other than heterosexual/cisgender (for example: lesbian/gay, transgender, non-binary, bisexual, etc.)
Sexologists - A professional who studies or clinically works with human sexuality.
Transgender - Someone who identifies with a gender different than the one that they were assigned at birth.

Sources

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Conversion Therapy in the U.S.

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