What is conversion therapy?
Conversion therapy is any sustained attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, usually from gay to straight or from transgender to cisgender. It is also called reparative therapy, sexual orientation change efforts, or gender identity change efforts. Every major American medical association has rejected it as ineffective and harmful.
Key facts
- An estimated 698,000 LGBTQ adults have been through conversion therapy, about 350,000 of them as teenagers (Williams Institute).
- 16,000 teens will be put through the practice by a licensed professional before age 18, where it remains legal (Williams Institute).
- No rigorous study has ever shown it works. The only two that claimed success were both retracted (Journal of Medical Regulation).
- Youth subjected to conversion therapy are over 2x as likely to attempt suicide as their peers (Trevor Project).
- 23 states + DC ban conversion therapy for minors, leaving 51% of LGBTQ teens unprotected (MAP).
- The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in March 2026 that those bans must survive strict scrutiny, the hardest test in law (SCOTUSblog).
- 698K
- LGBTQ adults have endured conversion therapy
- 2.2x
- higher suicide attempt risk for youth
- 8-1
- Supreme Court vote weakening conversion therapy bans
Why conversion therapy doesn’t work
Sexual orientation does not change because someone is pressured to change it. Decades of research find it is highly resistant to deliberate attempts at modification, and not a single rigorous study has shown conversion therapy can do it.
The clearest proof is what happened to the studies claiming it works. Only two were ever published, and both collapsed.
The only two studies that ever claimed it works were both retracted
Spitzer, Archives of Sexual Behavior (2001)
Claimed 200 people changed from gay to straight.
The author retracted it in 2012. Robert Spitzer apologized publicly. There was no way to judge whether subjects were telling the truth about changing, and the study had never gone through normal peer review. Source
Sullins, retrospective analysis (2021)
Claimed change efforts reduced same-sex attraction.
Retracted in 2025. The journal pulled it for methodological flaws and misreported numbers. Its own data showed 4 to 10 percent of subjects came out more strongly afterward, not less. Source
The harm to LGBTQ youth
Mathew Shurka was 16 when a licensed therapist promised to make him straight and told him to stop speaking to his mother and sisters. He followed that instruction for three years and spent five in treatment that changed nothing about who he was. What it left behind is the part the research can now measure across thousands of people like him.
In the largest study of its kind, the Trevor Project surveyed 22,462 LGBTQ youth and found that those subjected to conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide in the past year. It was the single strongest predictor of multiple attempts, even after accounting for family rejection and discrimination.
- 43.6%
- attempted suicide vs 17.3% who were not subjected to it
- 2.5x
- higher odds of multiple suicide attempts
- 2x
- higher lifetime risk for trans adults put through conversion therapy
For transgender people the pattern holds and sharpens. A JAMA Psychiatry study of more than 27,000 transgender adults found that gender-identity change efforts doubled the odds of a lifetime suicide attempt. For those targeted before age 10, the odds were more than four times higher.
How many people it reaches
Conversion therapy is still happening at scale. The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that 698,000 LGBTQ adults have undergone it, and that 16,000 more teens will be put through it by a licensed professional before they turn 18, where it remains legal.
A 2023 systematic review found that 13% of LGBTQ people in the U.S. have experienced conversion practices at some point. For transgender and nonbinary people the rate runs about three times higher than for cisgender people. It happens in churches, camps, and prayer groups, but also in regulated counselors’ offices.
Where it is banned
Whether a teenager is protected depends entirely on where they live. 23 states and the District of Columbia ban conversion therapy for minors, covering 49% of LGBTQ youth. The other 51% have no statutory shield at all.
Source: Movement Advancement Project, June 17, 2026.
| State | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| California | Full ban for minors | First state to ban it for minors, 2012. |
| Colorado | Full ban for minors | Ban remanded for strict-scrutiny review after Chiles v. Salazar (2026). |
| Connecticut | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Delaware | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| District of Columbia | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Hawaii | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Illinois | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Maine | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Maryland | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Massachusetts | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Michigan | Full ban for minors | Ban facing federal court challenge. |
| Minnesota | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Nevada | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| New Hampshire | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| New Jersey | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| New Mexico | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| New York | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Oregon | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Pennsylvania | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Rhode Island | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Utah | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Vermont | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Washington | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Wisconsin | Full ban for minors | Conversion therapy is prohibited for minors. |
| Alabama | No full statutory ban | 11th Circuit blocked enforcement of local bans on free-speech grounds. |
| Alaska | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Arizona | No full statutory ban | Executive order bars state funding, but no statutory ban. |
| Arkansas | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Florida | No full statutory ban | 11th Circuit blocked enforcement of local bans on free-speech grounds. |
| Georgia | No full statutory ban | 11th Circuit blocked enforcement of local bans on free-speech grounds. |
| Idaho | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Indiana | No full statutory ban | State law deters local-level bans. |
| Iowa | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Kansas | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Kentucky | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Louisiana | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Mississippi | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Missouri | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Montana | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Nebraska | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| North Carolina | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| North Dakota | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Ohio | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Oklahoma | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| South Carolina | No full statutory ban | State law deters local-level bans. |
| South Dakota | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Tennessee | No full statutory ban | State law deters local-level bans. |
| Texas | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Virginia | No full statutory ban | 2020 ban left unenforceable under a 2025 settlement. |
| West Virginia | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
| Wyoming | No full statutory ban | No state law protects minors from conversion therapy. |
Those protections are newer than they look, and the ground under them is already shifting.
The Supreme Court weakened the bans
On March 31, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Chiles v. Salazar that Colorado’s ban, applied to a licensed counselor’s talk therapy, is a viewpoint-based restriction on speech. That means it must survive strict scrutiny, the hardest standard in constitutional law, a test most laws fail.
Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority. Justice Jackson dissented alone, warning that the decision “could be ushering in an era of unprofessional and unsafe medical care.” The Court did not strike Colorado’s ban outright. It sent the case back to the lower court to apply the new standard, and put every other state with a similar ban on notice.
The science
Settled for a generation
- Every major U.S. medical and mental health association rejects conversion therapy.
- No credible study shows it changes orientation or identity.
- It more than doubles the risk of a suicide attempt.
The law
Reopened in 2026
- Chiles v. Salazar, 8-1, treats the bans as speech restrictions.
- Bans must now survive strict scrutiny, a test most laws fail.
- Colorado is remanded; every other state ban is exposed.
Sources: medical consensus per the Journal of Medical Regulation (2016); Chiles v. Salazar, SCOTUSblog (March 31, 2026).
The fight did not start in 2026. It runs from the day psychiatry stopped calling gay people sick to the day the Court reopened the question.
- Homosexuality removed from the DSM The American Psychiatric Association stops classifying being gay as a mental illness.
- Ex-gay ad campaign A national campaign promotes "change" and fuels the conversion therapy industry.
- First state ban California becomes the first state to ban conversion therapy for minors.
- The signature study is retracted Spitzer repudiates his own 2001 study and apologizes.
- Exodus International closes The largest ex-gay ministry shuts down and apologizes for the harm it caused.
- The last pro-change study falls The 2021 Sullins analysis is retracted for methodological flaws.
- Chiles v. Salazar The Supreme Court rules 8-1 that bans on licensed talk therapy face strict scrutiny.
From a diagnosis to a Supreme Court reversal, 1973-2026: 1973 — Homosexuality removed from the DSM (The American Psychiatric Association stops classifying being gay as a mental illness.). 1998 — Ex-gay ad campaign (A national campaign promotes "change" and fuels the conversion therapy industry.). 2012 — First state ban (California becomes the first state to ban conversion therapy for minors.). 2012 — The signature study is retracted (Spitzer repudiates his own 2001 study and apologizes.). 2013 — Exodus International closes (The largest ex-gay ministry shuts down and apologizes for the harm it caused.). 2025 — The last pro-change study falls (The 2021 Sullins analysis is retracted for methodological flaws.). 2026 — Chiles v. Salazar (The Supreme Court rules 8-1 that bans on licensed talk therapy face strict scrutiny.).
1973: The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. A membership referendum confirmed it in 1974. Being gay was no longer a disorder to be cured.
2012: California passed the first state ban on conversion therapy for minors. The same year, Robert Spitzer retracted the 2001 study that the entire “change is possible” movement had leaned on.
2025: The last study claiming conversion therapy worked, a 2021 analysis, was retracted. The scientific case for the practice was now empty on both ends.
2026: In Chiles v. Salazar, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that Colorado’s ban on licensed talk therapy is a speech restriction subject to strict scrutiny. Garrard Conley, who survived a Love in Action program and wrote the memoir Boy Erased, called the ruling a green light for the same practice that nearly destroyed him.
Gender-exploratory therapy: an old practice renamed
Conversion therapy did not disappear as the bans spread. It changed its name and its target, moving from gay people to transgender and nonbinary youth.
Gender-exploratory therapy is the newest version. It is a counseling approach for transgender and nonbinary young people that treats their gender identity as something to question rather than affirm, with the goal of delaying or preventing transition.
It is marketed as neutral. Its supporters say they are not trying to change anyone, only to “explore” where a young person’s gender feelings come from before any social or medical transition. In practice, the exploration starts from the assumption that a trans identity is a symptom to explain away, often blamed on trauma, autism, or social contagion, and the goal is to delay or prevent transition.
Clinical ethicist Florence Ashley, writing in Perspectives on Psychological Science, found the resemblance hard to miss: “When you begin from the premise that trans identities are suspect and often rooted in pathology, your therapeutic approach soon becomes indistinguishable from conversion practices.”
How conversion therapy and its rebrand line up. Source: Ashley, Perspectives on Psychological Science (2022).
| Feature | Traditional conversion therapy | "Gender-exploratory therapy" |
|---|---|---|
| Starting premise | Same-sex attraction is a problem to fix | A trans identity is suspect and likely a symptom |
| Claimed cause | Trauma, family dynamics, unconscious drives | Trauma, autism, social contagion, unconscious drives |
| The tactic | Delay acceptance while "healing" old wounds | Delay any transition until "exploration" is finished |
| The cover story | "Just inquiry, no agenda" | "Just exploration, no agenda" |
The major medical bodies have already drawn the line on the trans version. The American Psychological Association passed a 2021 resolution opposing gender identity change efforts, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health states plainly in its standards of care that being transgender “is not undesirable and should not be approached as if it were.”
What conversion therapy is not
Conversion therapy is not the same as ordinary mental health care, and the difference matters when the two get deliberately confused.
It is not affirming therapy. Affirming therapy supports a person in understanding and accepting their identity. Conversion therapy starts from the position that the identity must change. One reduces suicide risk; the other doubles it.
It is not always overt abuse. Most of it now happens in talk-therapy offices and prayer groups, not residential camps. The licensed-counselor version is exactly what the Supreme Court just treated as protected speech.
It is not a thing of the past. 16,000 LGBTQ teens are projected to be put through it by a licensed professional before turning 18, in the states that still allow it.
Banning it does not silence therapists. A counselor can discuss anything with a client. State bans restrict a specific licensed treatment that aims to change orientation or identity, the same way licensing law bars other discredited treatments.
Frequently asked questions
Does conversion therapy work? No. Sexual orientation and gender identity are highly resistant to deliberate change, and no credible study has shown conversion therapy changes either. The only two studies that ever claimed success were both retracted.
What happens in conversion therapy? There is no single method. It ranges from talk therapy that treats a person’s identity as a defect to fix, to behavioral and aversion techniques, to intensive religious programs and live-in camps. Most of it today is talk therapy in a counselor’s office or a faith setting, which is the version the Supreme Court just shielded as speech.
Does conversion therapy target transgender people? Yes. It has always tried to change gender identity as well as sexual orientation, and as bans spread it has increasingly focused on transgender and nonbinary youth, often under the rebrand “gender-exploratory therapy.” The goal is the same: to stop a person from being who they are.
Is conversion therapy legal in the United States? It depends on the state. 23 states and DC ban it for minors. The rest allow it. After Chiles v. Salazar in 2026, even the existing bans face new legal challenges.
What did the Supreme Court decide in Chiles v. Salazar? On March 31, 2026, the Court ruled 8-1 that Colorado’s ban on conversion talk therapy by a licensed counselor is a viewpoint-based speech restriction subject to strict scrutiny. It did not strike the ban outright but sent it back to the lower court and put similar bans nationwide at risk.
What is “gender-exploratory therapy”? It is a rebranded approach aimed at transgender youth that treats a trans identity as a symptom to be explored away. Researchers and medical bodies have found it functionally indistinguishable from conversion therapy.
Is conversion therapy the same as counseling for someone questioning their identity? No. Supportive counseling helps a person explore and accept who they are without a predetermined outcome. Conversion therapy has a fixed goal: changing the person’s orientation or identity.
What you can do
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Tell Congress to pass federal protection from conversion therapy. After Chiles v. Salazar, state bans are vulnerable and a national standard is the durable fix. Ask your members of Congress to support a federal ban on conversion therapy for minors and to fund survivor services. Use the letter below.
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Defend or pass a ban in your state. If your state is one of the 27 without a full ban, ask your state legislators to pass one. If your state has a ban, ask your attorney general to commit to defending it under the new strict-scrutiny standard. The Movement Advancement Project tracks where every state stands.
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Support the organizations litigating and tracking this. The National Center for Lesbian Rights runs the Born Perfect campaign to end conversion therapy. The Trevor Project produces the research that bans are built on.
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Know the crisis resources and share them. For LGBTQ youth in crisis, the Trevor Project is reachable at 1-866-488-7386 or by texting START to 678-678. Trans Lifeline is 877-565-8860. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. For any mental health crisis, call or text 988.
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Write your representative in support of protecting LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy. Use the letter below.