IN 2004
when Mathew
Shurka was 16, his father brought him to a licensed therapist
who claimed he could make gay people straight. Books lined
the wall, and a couch was available for those patients who liked
to recline while sharing their woes. The place had an aura of
scientific respectability. But few ordinary psychologists would
have condoned the conversation that took place.
The therapist, who worked in the
Los Angeles suburbs, belonged to
a relatively small network of mental health professionals who offer
what is sometimes called “sexual
conversion therapy,” an unconventional technique that is being contested in courtrooms and
legislatures around the country.
Like other clinicians in the field,
he promised to help gay patients
overcome their same-sex attractions. Some of these men (and
they were nearly all men) had
spent decades struggling with
feelings of shame and guilt.
But Mathew was only beginning to think about his sexual
identity. About a month before,
he’d confessed to his father, a
wealthy businessman, that he
had a crush on a boy and was
feeling confused. His