There is no evidence that conversion therapy, the attempt to change a person's sexual orientation and or identity, is successful. Below is a short, 2 minute article that summarizes conversion therapy and its legality in the United States.
Rather, "sexual minorities exposed to SOCE had nearly twice the odds of lifetime suicidal ideation, 75% increased odds of planning to attempt suicide, and 88% increased odds of a suicide attempt with minor injury compared with sexual minorities who did not experience SOCE." (Blosnich et. al, 2020).
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305637
It's hard for me to understand why a practice which has been shown to have an overwhelmingly negative effect on patients is still allowed to be used. Any insights/opinions?
Actually, conversion therapy has been banned in 20 states and more than 100 municipalities within the United States. Many of these bans happened in the last 2-3 years. However, the majority of US territories still doesn't impose this ban, which is horrible. Let's hope that this continues to change over the upcoming years.