The following is a press release issued by The Pride Study on Wednesday, March 13, 2024:
Official Title
Inequities in Conversion Practice Exposure at the Intersection of Ethnoracial and Gender Identities
Community Title
Experiences of Conversion Practice by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
What Did We Do?
Conversion practices refer to organized attempts to change the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of people who are LGBTQIA+. Some examples include religious rituals and therapy intended to cause a person to associate negative thoughts with being LGBTQIA+. We looked at experiences of conversion practice in The PRIDE Study’s Lifetime Health and Experiences Questionnaire from 2019-2021 among LGTBQIA+ people. We asked participants if they had any conversion practice experiences in their lifetime, the age when they first experienced conversion practice, and the age when they last experienced conversion practice. We then looked at how experiences of conversion practice differed by race, ethnicity, and gender.
What Was New, Innovative, or Notable?
This is one of the first studies that looked at how experiences of conversion practice differ by race, ethnicity, and gender. We considered how different identities experience power and oppression and how this may have shaped the experiences of conversion practice for different LGBTQIA+ groups.
What Did We Learn?
There were 9,274 LGBTQIA+ participants in the study. Of them, 5.7% of LGBTQIA+ participants reported any experiences with conversion practice in their life. On average, participants were 18 years old when they first experienced conversion practice and 21 years old when they last experienced it. This resulted in an average of 3 years between their first and last experience with conversion practice. A higher percentage of transgender and nonbinary participants reported conversion practice experiences, especially participants who are American Indian or Alaska Native and/or Middle Eastern or North African.
What Does This Mean for Our Communities?
Systems of power and oppression may likely shape differences in conversion practice experiences across LGTBQIA+ groups. This may be important for creating federal and local policies that ban conversion practice to protect LGBTQIA+ groups and reduce the harmful effects of such practices, especially for communities who may be affected the most.
What’s Next?
We plan to look at how different experiences of conversion practice affect mental health. This involves understanding how practices targeting sexual orientation, gender identity, or both can impact mental health differently for LGBTQIA+ individuals.
Citation
Tran NK, Lett E, Flentje A, Ingram S, Lubensky ME, Dastur Z, Obedin-Maliver J, Lunn MR. Inequities in Conversion Practice Exposure at the Intersection of Ethnoracial and Gender Identities. Am J Public Health. 2024, March 13; 114 (4): 424-434. doi: https://doi.org/10.2105/