Sciongrad wrote:OOC: That is an irresponsible conclusion to draw from the study you cited. First, the methodology of that study is deeply troubling. 30% of the subjects did not offer a response. Of those that did respond, 43% identified with their sex at birth — not a majority, but a plurality. This might seem significant until you look at the second issue: the sample size of the study is extremely small. There were only 45 respondents in total. That is not wide enough of a sample size to draw any useful conclusions, especially when one considers that 1/3 of the participants failed to respond to the follow-up!
There were actually 54 respondents, not 45 -- I assume this was a typo. I'm not qualified to speak to whether 54 is a reasonable sample size for a study of this nature, but the study was published in a reputable peer-reviewed journal for child psychiatry.
In any event, there is certainly more than one study that supports my conclusion.
Dr. James Cantor stated in 2016 that there are
three large-scale follow-up studies and several smaller studies examining desistance, all of which indicate that a majority of gender dysphoric or gender non-conforming children desist by the time they reach adulthood.
This research is not without its critics, though a great deal of it seems to be politically motivated. Certainly I think it's quite clear that it is not appropriate for the World Assembly to simply ban any kind of medical treatment that encourages children to embrace their biological sex.
Sciongrad wrote:You know that is an impossible standard to prove. No study can demonstrate that conversion therapy is impossible.
I think you are overstating what I am asking for. If we understood the genesis of sexual orientation, I think it would be much clearer whether it could in principle be changed.
I know very little about the existing purported means for changing sexual orientation, besides the fact that the scientific consensus is that they are harmful and ineffective. This seems to me to be a compelling argument to ban such means. I think it would also be an argument to ban any future purported means unless they can be shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective.
It is not, however, an argument to ban any attempt whatsoever to change a person's sexual orientation. To do so suggests that changing a person's sexual orientation is somehow intrinsically evil; that even if a safe and effective means existed to change a person's sexual orientation, it would be wrong to use it.
This does seem to be UM's position, though I'd like to see some discussion of this underlying moral claim. To me it seems that it would be
in principle desirable to change one's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, for the same reason that it would be
in principle desirable to rid oneself of any kind of inclination towards sin.