The American Psychiatric Association (APA) encourages legislation which would prohibit psychiatric treatment 'based on the a priori assumption that diverse sexual orientations and gender identities are mentally ill and should change' and describes attempts to change a person's sexual orientation by practitioners as unethical. Various jurisdictions around the world have passed laws against conversion therapy. Medical, scientific, and government organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom have expressed concern over the validity, efficacy and ethics of conversion therapy. There is no reliable evidence that such practices can alter sexual orientation or gender identity, and medical institutions warn that conversion therapy is ineffective and potentially harmful. Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual, or their gender identity from transgender to cisgender, using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions.
