Chris Babits discusses conversion therapy at Resource Center on Oct. 30

Chris Babits, a researcher from UT Austin, who recently received his PhD studying the topic of religion, gender and medicine, spoke about conversion therapy in the second UNT Library-Resource Center lecture held at Resource Center on Oct. 30.

Babits is writing a book about conversion therapy and said researching the book and spending time each day delving into the damage conversion therapy has done took an unexpected emotional toll. Among the resources he used is the LGBT Archives housed at University of North Texas.

Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to changing someone’s sexual orientation through therapy. In the vast majority of cases, the practice doesn’t work, causes severe trauma and is not approved by any organization counseling or psychological organization.

Among the more horrifying things he learned was how in the 1980s these “therapists” recruited gay men in AIDS wards as they were dying from the disease and were told they were going to hell. Many had no one in the hospital with them to defend them from this callous torture. But conversion therapy thrived by praying on the most vulnerable.

Conversion therapy in the 1950s took the form of scaring parents into raising good little hetero children to fight communism, nazism and feminism. It often took the form of lobotomy or shock therapy.

In the 1960s, Dr. Timothy Leary experimented with LSD as a “cure” for homosexuality.

In the 1970s, things began to change when the American Psychological Association voted at a meeting in Dallas to removed homosexuality from its list of 106 psychological disorders. Anti-gay celebrities like Anita Bryant rose to fame, but for the first time helped galvanize the LGBT community to organize almost a decade before AIDS forced the community to demand equality.

The final fall speaker in the series is Texas Women’s University Professor Agatha Beins with will speak on The AIDS Memorial Quilt, Art and Activism on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. at Resource Center, 5750 Cedar Springs Road. The series is free but donations are accepted to help support the LGBT Archives.

— David Taffet