But beyond just marriage rights, supportive Presidents and politicians, and civil rights, the most basic argument against LGBT equality has been crushed recently as well. The claim that a person can "pray away the gay" and become heterosexual (or "ex-gay") if they want it bad enough has completely fallen apart.
The "ex-gay" movement is centered around this damaging practice of so-called conversion or reparative therapy, which focuses on changing a person's sexual orientation. Despite the fact that all major medical organizations (including the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and American Counseling Association) have blasted the idea of conversion therapy as harmful and ineffective, the "ex-gay" claim has remained the main weapon of those fighting against LGBT rights.
And that weapon has now been completely removed from their arsenal.
As their last thin shred of supportive evidence, anti-gay organizations have long cited the controversial 2011 study by psychologist Dr. Rober Spitzer which appeared in the Archives of Sexual Behavior and claimed "highly motivated" gays and lesbians could reverse their sexual orientation. Spitzer's research was particularly harmful because he was the only non-socially conservative scientist to produce a study claiming some people could "pray away the gay" and he had previously led the charge in 1972-73 to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.
Virtually every anti-gay organization in the country quotes Spitzer's work, including in legislative and judicial fights for LGBT rights, like those defending California's discriminatory Proposition 8 in court. Their argument boils down to the idea that if a person can change their sexual orientation, they can change and not suffer the discrimination of being gay-- like by marrying someone of the opposite sex. It is the main and most potent argument they have had against including LGBT rights of all kinds, from marriage equality to employment protections.