Editing Conversion therapy (section)

=== Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) ===
The term ''[[homosexual]]'' was coined by German-speaking Hungarian writer [[Karl Maria Kertbeny]] and was in circulation by the 1880s.{{sfn|Whisnant|2016|p=20}}<ref name=Drescher>{{cite journal |last1=Drescher |first1=Jack |last2=Schwartz |first2=Alan |last3=Casoy |first3=Flávio |last4=McIntosh |first4=Christopher A. |last5=Hurley |first5=Brian |last6=Ashley |first6=Kenneth |last7=Barber |first7=Mary |last8=Goldenberg |first8=David |last9=Herbert |first9=Sarah E. |last10=Lothwell |first10=Lorraine E. |last11=Mattson |first11=Marlin R. |last12=McAfee |first12=Scot G. |last13=Pula |first13=Jack |last14=Rosario |first14=Vernon |last15=Tompkins |first15=D. Andrew |title=The Growing Regulation of Conversion Therapy |journal=Journal of Medical Regulation |date=2016 |volume=102 |issue=2 |pages=7–12 |doi=10.30770/2572-1852-102.2.7 |pmid=27754500 |pmc=5040471 }}</ref> Into the middle of the twentieth century, competing views of homosexuality were advanced by [[psychoanalysis]] versus academic [[sexology]]. [[Sigmund Freud]], the founder of psychoanalysis, viewed homosexuality as a form of [[arrested development]]. Later psychoanalysts followed [[Sandor Rado]], who argued that homosexuality was a "phobic avoidance of heterosexuality caused by inadequate early parenting".<ref name=Drescher/> This line of thinking was popular in psychiatric models of homosexuality based on the prison population or homosexuals seeking treatment. In contrast, sexology researchers such as [[Alfred Kinsey]] argued that homosexuality was a normal variation in human development. In 1970, gay activists confronted the [[American Psychiatric Association]], persuading the association to reconsider whether homosexuality should be listed as a disorder. The APA delisted homosexuality in 1973, which contributed to shifts in public opinion on homosexuality.<ref name=Drescher/>

Despite their lack of scientific backing, some [[social conservative|socially]] or [[religious conservatism|religiously conservative]] activists continued to argue that if one person's sexuality could be changed, homosexuality was not a fixed class such as [[Race (human categorization)|race]]. Borrowing from discredited psychoanalytic ideas about the cause of homosexuality, some of these individuals offered conversion therapy.<ref name=Drescher/> In 2001, conversion therapy attracted attention when [[Robert L. Spitzer]] published a non-[[peer-reviewed]] study asserting that some homosexuals could change their sexual orientation. Many researchers made [[methodological]] criticisms of the study, and Spitzer later repudiated his own study.<ref name=Drescher/>