Homosexuality and Mormonism - The Church and Conversion Therapy

The Church and Conversion Therapy

When asked the church's position on conversion therapy, Wickman responded "It may be appropriate for that person to seek therapy. Certainly the Church doesn't council against that kind of therapy." Oaks continued "The Church rarely takes a position on which treatment techniques are appropriate." They emphasize that the clinical side is not the most important thing, but the recognition that one has their own agency to control what they do. Church leaders caution about potentially abusive practices, such as aversion therapy.

In general, the church discourages against all groups that "challenge religious and moral values," "foster physical contact among participants," or "encourage open confession or disclosure of personal information normally discussed only in confidential settings." They have stated that "although participants may experience temporary emotional relief or exhilaration, old problems often return, leading to added disappointment and despair."

Several church members have been involved in the therapy for people with homosexual inclinations. A. Dean Byrd has published several articles in professional magazines and in the Ensign on the subject of homosexuality. Beckstead and Morrow analyzed the experience of 50 Mormon men undergoing conversion therapy.

Jeff Robinson interviewed seven heterosexually married Mormon men who had been through Evergreen and previously identified as gay. They believe they had a spiritual transformation and that their orientation was changed. They were no longer troubled by feeling different or rejected by heterosexual men, emotional attraction to men, sexual attraction to men, feeling bad about same-sex desires, social isolation, or compulsive sexual thoughts and behaviors. Robinson found that their change came from a new understanding that prior same-sex attractions did not require them to be gay.