Despite a rapidly growing body of evidence which shows that conversion therapy (sometimes called reparative therapy) meant to “convert” homosexuals to heterosexuality does not work and is dangerous, and despite the fact that psychological associations across the globe have banned it because of that evidence, leading right-wing Zionist Orthodox Rabbi Shlomo Aviner says he will continue to encourage homosexuals to undergo it.
Above: Rabbi Shlomo Aviner
Right-Wing Zionist Orthodox Rabbi Says He Will Promote Dangerous Psychological Therapy Despite Health Ministry Ban
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Despite a rapidly growing body of evidence which shows that conversion therapy (sometimes called reparative therapy) meant to “convert” homosexuals to heterosexuality does not work and is dangerous, and despite the fact that psychological associations across the globe have banned it because of that evidence, leading right-wing Zionist Orthodox Rabbi Shlomo Aviner says he will continue to encourage homosexuals to undergo it.
Aviner made his remarks just days after Israel’s Ministry of Health banned the therapy, citing the rising body of evidence against it and the dangers the therapy appears to cause.
Aviner rejects that evidence and, according to Ynet, claims that men who have undergone conversion therapy are "happy, love their wives and have children and good, normative families.”
"In the United States it's carried out in huge volumes of thousands, who gather for a very big, joyful conference," Aviner continued. "In Israel there are of course much fewer residents, but we are personally familiar with hundreds of people who have undergone these treatments successfully."
Repeated studies have shown that many of the men who claim to be “happy” and heterosexual after undergoing conversion therapy are actually still practicing homosexuals or are men who desperately want sexual contact with other men, and fight to repress those urges. Homosexuals in fundamentalist communities like Aviner’s who have undergone conversion therapy would likely be even more reticent to admit its failure to their clergy – especially when their clergyperson is an open booster of the controversial therapy.
In other words, conversion therapy does not “cure” homosexuality.
Studies have also shown that conversion therapy has a dark side. Many of those “cured” “former” homosexuals suffer real psychological damage from the therapy and its aftermath, and the therapy – which views homosexuality as an illness and highlights the alleged ‘weakness’ of the homosexual personality – has even been linked to suicides.
And while all the evidence is not yet in, the majority of the evidence that now exists highlights those risks, which is why conversion therapy has been banned in states like New Jersey and by Israel’s Ministry of Health.
Aviner, however, says he met with one of the people who drafted the Israel Psychological Association’s recent statement against conversion therapy, and according to Aviner, what the association found was “no so negative.”
“It doesn't bring the treatments to an end, it only says that we have to be careful. That's very true, like with everything else. One must be careful with any psychological treatment. It's no different from other treatments,” Aviner insisted.
Conversion therapy groups and practitioners have repeatedly been accused by former patients of misbehavior behavior that ranged from criminal sexual exploitation to shaming, and the association’s statement – which prompted Israel’s Ministry of Health to act – makes it very clear that conversion therapy is not “no different from other treatments.”
Aviner also blamed the existence of homosexuality on a person’s childhood environment.
“[Homosexuality] is not innate, but rather is the result of a psychological complexity from one's home,” Aviner said.
There is scant scientific evidence to support that claim and in fact, the overwhelming body of scientific evidence shows it to be untrue.
Aviner also equated sexual orientation to impulses to steal, rape or murder.
"We are all born with certain impulses. What can we do? If we say that they are unchangeable, and let every person with a certain trait act according to it, we will erase the person's entire moral duty. We will erase morality,” Aviner said.
A society can make an action – murder, for example – illegal. But even if no official law existed, most people would inherently know that murder is wrong. At the same time, society can make singing illegal on Tuesdays, and while there may (or may not) be a rationale for such a law, there is nothing innate about singing or Tuesdays that would tell a person not to sing on Tuesdays without it. Societies with no or very minimal exposure to Judeo-Christian morality often accept homosexuality as normal, and without the Torah's seeming position against homosexuality, there likely would be no conversion therapy.
In other words, Aviner appears to be conflating those two categories of behavior and then is insisting that the risks taken by homosexuals – often unknowingly because people like Aviner discount or even conceal them – when they undergo conversion therapy are acceptable because in essence, murder and homosexuality are both equivalent impulses, and that justifies the risks homosexuals take to stop being gay. He is arguing for a position of morality that is based on his fundamentalism, not for an actual medical position based on fact, reality and science.