February 10, 2010

Hundreds campaign against gay conversion therapy


by David Masters

A newly established Facebook group set up to campaign against ‘conversion therapy’ for homosexual people has already attracted nearly 1,000 members.

The group, Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce (SCOTT), was set up by Patrick Strudwick, an investigative journalist who subjected himself to ‘treatment’ by two therapists.

Conversion therapy is a controversial practice which aims to ‘cure’ people of attraction to their own sex.

The practice has existed since the 1970s, but in recent years it has attracted support from conservative Christian groups in a bid to stem the growing acceptance of homosexuality among Christians.

One such group, Anglican Mainstream, believes that conversion therapy enables clients to “overcome sexual sin patterns through a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

After his investigation into conversion therapy was published in the Independent, Strudwick said he was contacted by hundreds of readers.

“Countless former victims of conversion therapy have contacted me, describing the years of suffering they endured during and since treatment,” he said.

“Therapists have written in impotent frustration about how they are left to mop up the psychological mess left by conversion therapists.

“Many readers were simply astounded that this goes on.”

SCOTT is campaigning for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy to ban the practice of gay-to-straight conversion by its members.

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