Editing Conversion therapy (section)

===Castration and transplantation===
{{see also|Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany}}
[[File:Stolperstein von Friedrich Paul von Groszheim.jpg|thumb|[[Friedrich-Paul von Groszheim]] (1908–2006) was spared from a concentration camp after agreeing to castration under pressure in 1938.]]
In early twentieth century Germany, experiments were carried out in which homosexual men were subjected to [[unilateral orchiectomy]]  and testicles of heterosexual men were transplanted. These operations were a complete failure.{{sfn|Schmidt|1985|pp=133–134}}

[[Surgical castration]] of homosexual men was widespread in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lehring |first1=Gary |title=Officially Gay: The Political Construction Of Sexuality |date=2010 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-4399-0399-5 |page=63 |language=en}}</ref> SS leader [[Heinrich Himmler]] ordered homosexual men to be [[persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany#Concentration camps|sent to concentration camps]] because he did not consider a time-limited prison sentence sufficient to eliminate homosexuality.{{sfn|Zinn|2020b|pp=11–12}} Although theoretically voluntary, some homosexuals were subject to severe pressure and coercion to agree to castration. There was no age limit; some boys as young as 16 were castrated. Those who agreed to castration after a [[Paragraph 175]] conviction were exempted from being transferred to a concentration camp after completing their legal sentence.{{sfn|Wachsmann|2015|p=147}} Some concentration camp prisoners were also subjected to castration.{{sfn|Weindling|2015|p=30}} An estimated 400 to 800 men were castrated.{{sfn|Schwartz|2021|p=383}}

Endocrinologist [[Carl Vaernet]] attempted to change homosexual concentration camp prisoners' sexual orientations by implanting a pellet that released [[testosterone]]. Most of the victims, non-consenting prisoners at [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]], died shortly thereafter.{{sfn|Whisnant|2016|p=223}}{{sfn|Weindling|2015|pp=183–184}}

An unknown number of men were castrated in [[West Germany]] and [[chemical castration]] was used in other Western countries, notably against [[Alan Turing]] in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huneke |first1=Samuel Clowes |title=States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany |date=2022 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4875-4213-9 |pages=53–54 |language=en}}</ref>