Social workers reject ‘reparative therapy’ for gays

SOCIAL workers have taken a stand against therapies which claim to “cure” homosexuality on the grounds that they add to the mental distress of gay and lesbian people.

Declan Coogan, spokes-man for the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), said sexual orientation conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, “is based on the erroneous belief that homosexuality is an illness”.

“There is no evidence that conversion therapy is effective, though there is evidence of mental health risks associated with the use of such approaches with gay, lesbian or bisexual people,” he said.