Saturday, September 1, 2012

"Reparative Therapy" or "Conversion Therapy" – To Change Sexual Orientation - Lack Medical Justification, THREATEN HEALTH - Are ETHICALLY UNACCEPTABLE


Press Release 


"THERAPIES" TO CHANGE SEXUAL ORIENTATION
LACK MEDICAL JUSTIFICATION
AND
THREATEN HEALTH


Washington, D.C., 17 May 2012 (PAHO/WHO) — Services that purport to "cure" people with non-heterosexual sexual orientation lack medical justification and represent a serious threat to the health and well-being of affected people, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in a position statement launched on 17 May, the International Day against Homophobia. The statement calls on governments, academic institutions, professional associations and the media to expose these practices and to promote respect for diversity. Photo

Twenty two years ago, on May 17, the World Health Assembly removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders when it approved a new version of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).

"Since homosexuality is not a disorder or a disease, it does not require a cure. There is no medical indication for changing sexual orientation," said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago. Practices known as "reparative therapy" or "conversion therapy" represent "a serious threat to the health and well-being—even the lives—of affected people."  

The PAHO statement notes that there is a professional consensus that homosexuality is a natural variation of human sexuality and cannot be regarded as a pathological condition. However, several United Nations bodies have confirmed the existence of "therapists" and "clinics" that promote treatment intended to change the sexual orientation of non-heterosexual people.  

The document notes that no rigorous scientific studies demonstrate any efficacy of efforts to change sexual orientation. However, there are many testimonies about the severe harm to mental and physical health that such "services" can cause. Repression of sexual orientation has been associated with feelings of guilt and shame, depression, anxiety, and even suicide.  

As an aggravating factor, there have been a growing number of reports about degrading treatments, and physical and sexual harassment under the guise of such "therapies," which are often provided illicitly. In some cases, adolescents have been subjected to such interventions involuntarily and even deprived of their liberty, sometimes kept in isolation for several months.

"These practices are unjustifiable and should be denounced and subject to sanctions and penalties under national legislation," said Dr. Roses. "These supposed conversion therapies constitute a violation of the ethical principles of health care and violate human rights that are protected by international and regional agreements."

To address the problem, PAHO makes a series of recommendations for governments, academic institutions, professional associations, the media, and civil society, including:  

· “Conversion” or “reparative” therapies and the clinics offering them should be denounced and subject to adequate sanctions.

· Public institutions responsible for training health professionals should include courses on human sexuality and sexual health in their curricula, with a focus on respect for diversity and the elimination of attitudes of pathologization, rejection, and hate toward non-heterosexual persons. 

· Professional associations should disseminate documents and resolutions by national and international institutions and agencies that call for the de-psychopathologization of sexual diversity and the prevention of interventions aimed at changing sexual orientation. 

· In the media, homophobia in any of its manifestations and expressed by any person should be exposed as a public health problem and a threat to human dignity and human rights. 

· Civil society organizations can develop mechanisms of civil vigilance to detect violations of the human rights of non-heterosexual persons and report them to the relevant authorities. They can also help to identify and report people and institutions involved in the administration of “reparative” or “conversion therapies.”
 
PAHO, which celebrates its 110th anniversary this year, is the oldest public health organization in the world. It works with its member countries to improve the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.

Read more:

  

World Health Organization
“CURES” FOR AN ILLNESS THAT DOES NOT EXIST
Purported therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation lack medical justification and are ethically unacceptable 

"REPARATIVE THERAPY" or "CONVERSION THERAPY" 

Reported violations of personal integrity and other human rights
As an aggravating factor, “conversion therapies” have to be considered threats to the right to personal autonomy and to personal integrity. There are several testimonies from adolescents who have been subject to “reparative” interventions against their will, many times at their families’ initiative. In some cases, the victims were interned and deprived of their liberty, sometimes to the extent of being kept in isolation during several months.6 The testimonies provide accounts of degrading treatment, extreme humiliation, physical violence, aversive conditioning through electric shock or emetic substances, and even sexual harassment and attempts of “reparative rape,” especially in the case of lesbian women. Such interventions violate the dignity and human rights of the affected persons, independently of the fact that their “therapeutic” effect is nil or even counterproductive. In these cases, the right to health has not been protected as demanded by the regional and international obligations established through the Protocol of San Salvador and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Read complete position statement - May 17, 2012

Spitzer Issues Apology for Study Supporting REPARATIVE THERAPY - 6/15/12 - Robert Spitzer, M.D. - has now RENOUNCED the findings that “REPARATIVE THERAPY” could help gay people change their sexual orientation

Psychiatry Giant Sorry for Backing GAY ‘CURE’ – 5/18/12

Spitzer's Apology Changes 'Ex-Gay' Debate – 5/21/12 – NPR -- …CONAN: Do you think homosexuality is a choice? SPITZER: Is a choice? No, for sure, that's the one thing I have no doubt about, it's no choice. CONAN: And in a distinguished career, this has been, I guess, an unfortunate last chapter. SPITZER: Well, it's unfortunate in one sense, but I feel very relieved and very grateful to the many people who have told me or written to the New York Times that I Did The Right Thing, and I think I did.

GAY CONVERSION THERAPY DEVASTATED MY FAMILY - CHANA WILSON – 6/25/12 - REPARATIVE THERAPY, which attempts to make gay people straight, is not just futile -- It often causes serious harm, including increased depression, self-hatred, and even suicide. It can devastate not just a gay individual, but entire families…

Gay Baby Boomers Waiting for More Apologies - Jeffrey Sharlach – 6/01/12

Facing the Truth About Reparative Therapy and America's War on Gay Teens - Tomas Mournian – 5/22/12 …The reparative therapy described in "Hiding Out" and my later related reportage chronicled torture practices that were coercive and, in many ways, the same as what was happening in the Iraqi torture sites. Reparative therapy or torture? Humiliation, isolation, extreme physical positions, and forced confessions were as common at Teen Help (a now-defunct umbrella organization that referred parents to reparative-therapy facilities that has been exposed on WWASPS Survivors Network) as at Abu Ghraib…

California Senate Votes To Ban Gay ‘Conversion’ Therapy – 5/30/12

The Lies and Dangers of Reparative Therapy – HRC - May 2012
Many right-wing religious groups promote the concept that an individual can change his or her sexual orientation, either through prayer or other religious efforts, or through so-called "reparative" or "conversion" therapy. The limited research on such efforts has disproven their efficacy, and also has indicated that they can be affirmatively harmful. Beyond studies focused solely on reparative therapy, broader research clearly demonstrates the significant harm that societal prejudice and family rejection has on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, particularly youth. Furthermore, there is significant anecdotal evidence of harm to LGBT people resulting from attempts to change their sexual orientation. Based on this body of evidence, every major medical and mental health organization in the United States has issued a statement condemning the use of reparative therapy…

Research on the Impacts of Reparative Therapy, Harms Caused by
Societal Prejudice


Organizational Positions on Reparative Therapy
 

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

American Counseling Association

American Medical Association

American Psychiatric Association

American Psychoanalytic Association

American Psychological Association

American School Counselor Association

National Association of Social Workers

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO): Regional Office of the World Health Organization

 
Gay Catholic Priest, Fr. Marty Kurylowicz, 1997 “Coming Out”
Threatened
by Vatican with
REPARATIVE THERAPY

WHISTLEBLOWING to protect gay children from the Severity of Antigay Social & Religious Norms - FLEES – Hostile Working Environment Incapacitating Retaliation - NOW – Vatican Twist Flees to Refusing to Return – to remove from Clerical State - Gay Priest is Defenseless has No Civil Protection
Read More:
 
 
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz being attacked by Benedict XVI
I am next in line to be one of Benedict XVI casualties. As a gay Roman Catholic - I have absolutely no recourse regarding my situation – except to make mu case all public. This of course will not stop the Benedict XVI and W. Hurley violent covert operations against me. But it can become a small window into the cloak-and-dagger routine of corruption that is now undeniably characteristic of Benedict XVI, his hierarchy and all their accomplices. In this way Catholics and friends of Catholic can help see that the likes of Benedict XVI’s clandestine activities, child sexual abuse cover-ups, etc. are therefore prevented from ever happening again. Also, I hope it will bring out publically the true stories of all those bishops, priests, sisters, academics, etc. who were on B16’s list to be secretly sabotaged into silence and then later are removed without any public notice or recourse...
Read more:

Pope Blasts U.K. Anti-Discrimination Laws - February 2, 2010In Speech, Benedict Raises Fears that Vatican Could Be Prosecuted for Stances Against Gays
Gay Catholic Priest, Fr. Marty Kurylowicz, 1997 “Coming Out” for “Protection of Children From Antigay Social & Religious Norms” – Vatican Ordered REPARATIVE THERAPY for the gay priest – August 2012
GAY MARRIAGE – Propaganda Tactics|B16’s Naturalistic fallacy & Homosexuality - Dehumanizing, Depriving Civil Rights, Silencing Gays - Covering Up B16 Crimes Against Children 30+yrs? |PART 5
VATICAN: GAY DISCRIMINATION Document Released - July 24, 1992 “…that said homosexuals could legitimately be discriminated against in employment, housing and the adoption of children.”
Vatican attacked for opposing gay decriminalization - December 2, 2008
Vatican OPPOSES UN Declaration on DECRIMINALISATION of HOMOSEXUALITY – December 12, 2008
 
Sister MARGARET FARLEY - in St. Louis, at the CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA - A "profoundly important" question for Catholic theologians, Farley said, is: "SHOULD POWER SETTLE QUESTIONS OF TRUTH?" …her students [at Yale] asked…why she stayed in a church…Because the church "is still a source of real life for me," she would tell them. "It's worth the struggle. It's Worth Getting A Real Backbone That Has Compassion Tied To It." – Her book, "Just Love: A Framework for Christian Social Ethics" - 61112
 
SR. MARGARET A. FARLEY - emeritus professor of Christian ethics at Yale Divinity School – defends her book - “JUST LOVE: A FRAMEWORK FOR CHRISTIAN SEXUAL ETHICS” respecting and supporting GAY MARRIAGE - from Benedict XVI Approved Homophobic Attacks made by Vatican - 60412 Photo
GAY MARRIAGE - An 8 Part Series Professionally providing Reliable Authoritative Data & Research – that Challenges the Accuracy & Truthfulness of Benedict XVI & Hierarchy – Public Antigay Attacks, Tactics – 2012
Benedict XVI Anti-Gay Obsession | DISSOCIATIVE - HOMOEROTIC Feelings - NOT Catholic Church DOCTRINE | Crackdown U.S. Nuns Gay Marriage & Permanent Removing Gay Priest 1997 for his efforts to Protect Children
Gay Marriage - No Mystery – Only TRUTH about Child Sexual Abuse Cover-ups Will Set Benedict XVI Free – not FOX NEWS NETWORK PR in an USA Presidential Election Year – A 30 year Web of DECEIT & RUTHLESSNESS is Unending Expense & Global Violence Against Children!


 
 

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