Gay Man: “Reversal Therapy” Ineffective

A gay man testified Wednesday in a federal same-sex marriage trial that the “reversal therapy” he underwent as a teenager to change his sexual orientation drove him to the brink of suicide.

Lawyers for two same-sex couples suing to overturn California’s gay marriage ban called 26-year-old Ryan Kendall to the witness stand to demonstrate that a person’s sexual orientation cannot usually be changed.

The point is central to their effort to show that gays deserve special protections from discrimination under the U.S. Constitution.

Kendall said the therapy he tried at the insistence of his parents did nothing to turn him into a heterosexual.

“I was just as gay as when I started,” he said.

[ CBS News ]