Clearing the Air on Conversion Therapy

BY JODY-LEE FARRAH, MSW, RSW

CURRENTLY DESCRIBED AS A “hot topic”, conversion therapy has been the subject of headlines locally to internationally, capturing ongoing conversations and debate about the so-called therapeutic intervention. In Alberta, municipal governments are taking action to ban the practice by prohibiting business licenses for those that provide conversion therapy. The provincial government continues to examine their role by weighing their legislative powers to protect Canadians from harmful practices such as conversion therapy, while respecting human rights defined in the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Alberta Minister of Justice, Doug Schweitzer, has stated, “The province opposes and condemns conversion therapy, which is prohibited practice for all regulated health professionals in the province. The totality of these measures constitutes a complete legal ban on the practice of conversion therapy”. The federal government is looking at ways to reform the Criminal Code in order to combat conversion therapy.

A Harmful Practice Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, “involves an array of pseudo-scientific interventions that aim to alter same-sex attractions with

the goal of promoting heterosexuality (George, 2017; Bright, 2004). Some interventions include the use of medication, religious rites, behavioural, cognitive, and cognitivebehavioural strategies, as well as individual and group counselling.” The term sexual orientation change efforts, or SOCE, includes any form of conversion or reparative therapy.

LGTBTQ2S+: Commonly used acronym to mean lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and twospirit. The plus symbol is used to include all sexual and gender identities .

SOCE refers to any practice seeking to change a person’s sexual orientation, including, but not limited to, efforts to change behaviours, gender identity, or gender expressions. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), psychiatric interventions described as conversion therapy are based on long-time heteronormative perspectives that homosexuality is a mental disorder. However, as a result of advocacy to recognize LGBTQ2S+ civil rights and affirm that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, the APA condemned conversion therapy. The diagnosis of homosexuality was removed from the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973, and in 1990, the World Health Organization followed by removing homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). With historical roots in a framework of mental disorder, relentless oppression of the LGBTQ2S+ population has led to stigma, discrimination, human rights violations, criminalization, violence and death of LGBTQ2S+ people. Stigma and discrimination has had a tremendous impact on the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ2S+ people, including but not limited to, family rejection, bullying, physical and sexual assault, and suicide. The marginalization and discrimination experienced by LGBTQ2S+ people continues to be a barrier in accessing appropriate health care. The Canadian Psychiatric Association states that “These barriers are compounded by health care providers often lacking the appropriate knowledge and skills around LGBT health.” Worse, LGBTQ2S+ clients reported, “the level of knowledge of health care professionals to be inadequate, the amount of homophobic reactions to their lives to be unethical, and the willingness of the health care system to adapt to their needs to be minimal.”

(ACSW) accompanies many other professional organizations in opposing all forms of conversion therapy. Interventions reported to suppress or change sexual orientation are harmful practices, not therapy. The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) issued a statement to Canadian social workers and the public strongly condemning any therapy with the goal to repair or change an individual’s sexual orientation, regardless of age. In the USA, the National Association of Social Workers released a position statement asserting that conversion therapy infringes on the guiding principles inherent to social work ethics and values and that the practice of conversion therapy violates the tenets of the social work profession. Most recently, the New Brunswick Association of Social Workers released and implemented “Standards Regarding Conversion Therapy”, which clearly outlines social workers’ ethical responsibilities to clients and the profession, affirming that in no instance would any involvement with the practice of conversion therapy be acceptable. Social workers are trained professionals who follow a Code of Ethics and adhere to Standards of Practice that guide practitioners. Ethical social work practice is built on the core values and principles of respect for the inherent dignity and worth of persons, pursuit of social justice, service to humanity, and integrity in professional practice. Social workers strongly support evidence-based practice, are committed to doing no harm and respect the individual’s right to selfdetermination. Given the professional accountability to uphold these values and adhere to the professional Code of Ethics, engaging in the practice of conversion therapy in any of its forms is out of alignment with the CASW Code of Ethics and the ACSW Standards of Practice.

Advocating for the LGBTQ2S+ community is an important conversation that needs to continue within the social work community and at the ACSW. In 2015, the Council adopted a resolution stating, “…be it further resolved that the ACSW take an active role in the movement towards ending the inequality and oppression of the LGBTQ+ community”. Condemning oppressive practices is advancing the movement to end inequality and advocating for the rights of LGBTQ2S+ people to live free from oppression and discrimination . For a version of this article that includes references, please email assocdirector@ acsw.ab.ca.

JODY-LEE FARRAH is the Associate Director, Professional Practice & Advocacy, at the Alberta College of Social Workers.