TreatmentsHomosexuality.Org.Uk - TreatmentsHomosexuality

Welcome to Treatmentshomosexuality

The website is about use of so-called "treatments" that aim to make homosexual people heterosexual. It arose from research funded by the Wellcome Trust into the oral history of such treatments in Britain since 1950.

Treatments to change a person's sexuality are unethical and are very likely to be damaging.  We have known for many years that homosexuality is not a disorder or illness. Nor is there any evidence that any such "treatments" are effective. If you listen to a BBC debate with Dr Jospeh Nicolosi (NARTH) on our Interviews page you will hear how muddled such therapists are about what they do.  The American Psychiatric Association and most other associations of psychiatrists and psychologists explicitly warn against so-called reparative therapy that tries to make gay people straight.

We collected a number of oral histories from lesbian, gay and bisexual people who had undergone therapy. We also collected oral histories from professionals who had developed and conducted the treatments.  We wanted to know how patients had coped with the potentially damaging effects of "treatment" and whether the professionals had eventually realised the harm they were doing.

On this website you will find some of the oral histories that arose from that research. We have posted those stories that show particular issues and are the most revealing of how treatments were conducted. To read them click on the Narratives button in the Menu and then on Patient Story or Professional Story. You can also read about and listen to views about such treatments on our Interviews page

Now we want to to hear from other people around the world who may have undergone these "treatments".  We know that unfortunately many lesbian, gay and bisexual people have undergone psychotherapy, aversion behaviour therapy, or various forms of spiritual or reparative therapy, to try to become heterosexual. If this has happened to you or is happening to you now, please send us your story.  You may even have a friend or relative who received or is receiving treatment. If so, we would like you to send us your story.

We also know that a small number of therapists continue to offer 'treatment' today.  We also want to hear from doctors, psychotherapists, counsellors or psychologists, who may have undertaken these treatments at any time in their career.  If you gave these treatments, please tell us about them and what you think about them now.

You can do this by contacting us with a written account, or an audio or video digital recording of your account.  We may edit it to make sure it is anonymous and will not cause offence to third parties. We shall then add it to the stories already on this website.

In particular, we want to hear from people living in places such as India, South America and China where much less research into these matters has been conducted.