Study Finds Gay Cure Therapy Linked to Suicide & Mental Health Issues

A new study from the UK-based equality and religious diversity charity the Ozanne Foundation has found a fifth of gay cure therapy survivors have gone on to attempt suicide, as well as have a string of other severe mental health issues.

The foundation surveyed 4600 LGBT+ people of faith and found one in ten had personal experiences of people attempting to change their sexual orientation. 458 had experienced conversion therapy, 91 of those had attempted suicide. Two in five had had suicidal thoughts, while less than a third had “gone on to lead a happy and fulfilled life.”

Three-quarters of gay cure therapy survivors said “it did not work for me and I do not believe it works for others.”

“The level of considered and attempted suicide reported here is shocking and sobering,” said the Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes, Chair of the Ozanne Foundation.

“The statistics reflect lives which have been scarred and strained by mixed messaging of love, acceptance, condemnation and fear.

“My hope is that the courageous sharing of our respondents will not go unheard, and that human flourishing and human life will not be treated as a mere intellectual battleground for dry conversation.”

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