But though Heath contended he was able to actually turn gay men straight, his work has since been challenged and criticized for its methodology. Robert Galbraith Heath, a psychiatrist in New Orleans who pioneered the technique, used this form of brain stimulation, along with hired prostitutes and heterosexual pornography, to “change” the sexual orientation of gay men.
Other “treatments” included shocks administered through electrodes that were implanted directly into the brain. Some LGBTQ people were given electroconvulsive therapy, but others were subjected to even more extreme techniques like lobotomies.
They began to use new psychiatric interventions in an attempt to “cure” gay people. But though Freud emphasized that homosexuality wasn’t a disease, per se, some of his colleagues didn’t agree. Sigmund Freud hypothesized that humans are born innately bisexual and that homosexual people become gay because of their conditioning. Others theorized that homosexuality was a psychological disorder instead. This theory led to testicle transplantation experiments in the 1920s during which gay men were castrated, then given “heterosexual” testicles.” For Eugen Steinach, a pioneering Austrian endocrinologist, homosexuality was rooted in a man’s testicles. There were plenty of theories as to why people were homosexual.
