Trending
- “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Season 10 Ru-veals 18 Queens Competing in Inaugural “Tournament of All Stars”
- Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Doechii Among LGBTQ Nominees at 2025 American Music Awards
- Dr. Jon Paul Higgins on “Black. Fat. Femme.”: A Bold Testament to Identity, Joy, and Audacity
- Tender, Urgent, and Unflinching: Experience ‘All the World’s a Stage’ Before It Closes on May 10 in NYC
- Education À La Carte: Legal and Anti-Censorship Experts, Authors, and Students on the Stakes of the Supreme Court Book Ban Case Mahmoud v. Taylor
- LGBTQ Leaders Talk Pope Francis’ Legacy
- The GLAAD Wrap: “The Wedding Banquet” in Theaters, Trailers for “And Just Like That…” and “Four Seasons,” New Music by Sasha Allen, BODHI, and More!
- Heroes of the Resistance: Standing Up for LGBTQ Rights in Employment, the First Amendment, Health Care, Marriage Equality, and More.
“Variations in sexual orientation and gender expression represent normal and expectable dimensions of human development.” — American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
“Conversion therapy” refers to the harmful and discredited practice of attempting to change an LGBTQ person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Purveyors of this dangerous practice falsely claim that LGBTQ identities are not real, but rather an expression of mental illness or an emotional disorder that can be “cured” through psychological or religious intervention.
All major medical, psychiatric, and psychological organizations have condemned “conversion therapy,” and the United Nations has compared it to “torture.” Accordingly, the practice has been widely outlawed globally and across the U.S. As noted by Born Perfect: “Few practices hurt LGBTQ [people] more than attempts to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through conversion therapy, which can cause depression, substance abuse, and even suicide.”
While “conversion therapy” is the most commonly used term, its purveyors use many alternate phrases (e.g. “unwanted same-sex attraction,” “leaving homosexuality”) to promote the practice online and off. To help illuminate a better understanding of these phrases, see the expansive list below. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism has documented that the profit-driven promotion of “conversion therapy” remains widespread across Google, other search engines, and social media platforms.
Additional Resources
If you or someone you know has been targeted with “conversion therapy,” here are a few resources to help and support you or to learn more about this topic.
- Born Perfect: Toolkit for “Conversion Therapy” Survivors
- The Trevor Project: “It’s Still Happening” Report
- Human Rights Campaign: The Lies and Dangers of Efforts to Change Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
- GLAAD Media Reference Guide – In Focus: “Conversion therapy”
- GLAAD’s Online Anti-LGBTQ Hate Terms Defined: “Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction”
Alternate Phrases for “Conversion Therapy”
- achieving heterosexuality
- become heterosexual/straight
- corrective care
- cure homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- delivered/deliverance from homosexuality or same-sex attraction
- ex gay therapy
- ex homosexual, ex lesbian, ex LGBT, ex trans
- former gay, former lesbian, former LGBT, former trans
- free from homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- freedom from homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- gay cure
- gay to straight
- gender confusion
- gender exploratory therapy
- heal from homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- homosexual confusion
- leave homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- overcome homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- positive alternatives to homosexuality
- reintegrative therapy, reorientation therapy
- reparative therapy
- same-sex attracted
- seeking to change my sexual orientation
- sexual attraction fluidity exploration in therapy
- sexual orientation change
- sexual reorientation therapy
- struggling with homosexuality/same-sex attraction
- unwanted same-sex attraction/homosexuality/gender identity issues
