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Treating the Purple Menace

Ethical Considerations of Conversion Therapy and Affirmative Alternatives

The Pennsylvania State University

Mary K. McClanahan

The Pennsylvania State University

This article outlines the ethical considerations for sexual orientation conversion therapy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. There are numerous reasons not to acquiesce to a client’s desire to change his or her sexual orientation. There is no empirical evidence to show that conversion therapy is effective in reorienting a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person to heterosexuality. Moreover, these types of treatments perpetuate society’s stance that homosexuality is an inferior state and assume that the client’s struggle is pathological and not in reaction to the sociopolitical context in which lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons exist. Guidelines for responding to a client seeking reorientation and evaluating one’s biases regarding lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are presented. Future research implications are discussed.

The Counseling Psychologist, Vol. 27, No. 5, 722-742 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0011000099275006


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