Royal College of Psychiatrists: People are not born gay, conversion therapy is still ‘harmful’
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has changed its position on the causes and nature of same-sex attraction. While they note the impact of “childhood experiences,” they stand opposed to therapy to explore a change in sexual orientation, noting it as “potentiallly harmful.”
photo Julyo based on work by Gilbert Baker, 1979 via wikimedia commons
In this latest statement, the RCP writest that “sexual orientation is determined by a combination of biological and postnatal environmental factors” and goes on to say that “[it] is not the case that sexual orientation is immutable or might not vary to some extent in a person’s life” which conflicts their stance that “there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences have any role in the formation of a person’s fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation.”
“They now say that the causes of homosexuality are a combination of ‘biological and postnatal environment factors.’ So, if a child does not encounter such postnatal life experiences, he or she will grow up heterosexual,” says the director of Core Issues Trust (CIT), Mike Davidson.
No change in their stance that sexual orientation can change and they are still opposed to such therapy is ‘potentially harmful’ but cannot point to any hard evidence to justify such an assertion.
“The Royal College has also modified its view on whether sexual orientation can change, saying, ‘It is not the case that sexual orientation is immutable or might not vary to some extent in a person’s life,'” he says. “So how can that be consistent with a ban on people voluntarily seeking professional counseling to change unwanted same-sex feelings?”
Speaking to Gay Star News, a Royal College of Psychiatrists spokeswoman said it was a clear ‘misinterpretation’ of their actual statement.
“Homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder,” it reads. “The College believes strongly in evidence-based treatment. There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. The College would not support a therapy for converting people from homosexuality any more than we would do so from heterosexuality.”
She continued: “Psychiatrists should be committed to reducing inequalities, not supporting practices that are explicitly based on pathologizing homosexuality. As such, the College remains in favor of legislative efforts to ban such conversion therapies.”
Despite the data, more people polled believed people are born gay – more here
[…] http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/royal-college-of-psychiatrists-people-are-not-born-gay-conversion-t…; Position Statement PS02/2014, April 2014, Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Statement On […]
[…] http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/royal-college-of-psychiatrists-people-are-not-born-gay-conversion-t…; Position Statement PS02/2014, April 2014, Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Statement On […]
[…] Francisco last week. Perry’s comments come just days after the Royal College of Psychiatrists admitted that there is no evidence people are born gay. […]
Absolutely incredible…This is the most revealing bigotry and unprofessional conduct to date by a body of psychologists who refuse to hear the healing effects of AUTHENTIC Reparative Therapy. Stunning revelation to hear that professionals will not even consider an opposite viewpoint, or give credible time to people, thousands, who have experienced true change in true RT. They have no ears to hear anything but horror stories of something that is not even real RT.