Review of Holly Lawford-Smith’s “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Therapy: Or, Who put the ‘GI’ in ‘SOGI’?”

Abstract

After positively discussing Professor Lawford-Smith's central argument, I provide some of my own comments on the term 'gender identity', contrasting it with 'sexual orientation'. I argue that, unlike 'sexual orientation', both components of the phrase 'gender identity' have significant ambiguities that make clear empirical research into the nature of 'gender identity' a non-starter. I briefly suggest some ways to resolve the problem.