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09/15/07-09/17/07

Gay shrinks get conversion therapist booted from conference

A group of gay and lesbian psychiatrists successfully campaigned to remove a conversion therapist from an Austrian mental health conference. 

The Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists initiated a letter-writing campaign against Markus Hoffman's participation in the October conference in Graz. According to the AGLP, Hoffman is a German conversion therapist who leads an evangelical group that attempts to change the orientation of gays and lesbians.

The organizers of the conference—the Austrian Society of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy—pushed for Hoffman to be disinvited after being inundated with letters from AGLP members. Seemingly under pressure, Hoffman announced he had withdrawn from the event.

"AGLP is happy to have played a role in protecting vulnerable gay patients from potential harm," AGLP president Ubaldo Leli said in a release. (The Advocate)

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