Wow! I can already hear the shrieks and howls and envision the flying spittle at Teh Family Foundation ("TFF") over a bill introduced by Delegate Patrick Hope that would bar therapists from engaging in reparative therapy, a/k/a "ex-gay" therapy with minors. One of the major agenda items for TFF is to maintain the myth that being gays is a "lifestyle choice" and that sexual orientation can be "cured." Literally, every legitimate medical and mental health association has condemned the practice which has been found to be dangerous. Here are highlights from GayRVA:
A bill hoping to ban the use of ex-gay therapy on youth in Virginia will go before the 2014 General Assembly. The bill’s early language states “under no circumstances” should a medical health provider try to change the sexual orientation of any person under the age of 18, and doing so would result in “discipline by the licensing entity” against the practitioner according to early copy of the bill obtained by GayRVA.
“Seeing what has happened in California and New Jersey; it’s really encouraged me to put this bill forward,” said Delegate Patrick Hope, the bill’s chief patron, from his Northern Virginia office. Hope said he was introduced more recently to the issue of ex-gay therapy – after speaking with some constituents who had been forced into the process, seeing what was happening in other states, and reading about the damage the treatment can cause, Hope threw his support behind the bill. “I think this is the right tome to have a conversation about it.”
The bill would ban the practice of conversation therapy on minors, and practicing psychologists could lose their license if they are caught using the treatment.
Both California and New Jersey have banned the treatment but legal challenges followed shortly after the bills were signed into law. CA’s ban was upheld at the federal level, and Hope cited the 9th District Federal Court ruling which upheld the ban in August of last year.
“The courts have said (the ban) does not violate speech or religion; it’s conduct that we’re going after, not speech or religion. In terms of parental rights, parents do have a right to make decisions regarding the care and custody of their children, but that right is not without limitations,” said Hope. “We as a government need to step in to protect our children. The risks far out weigh the benefits.”
Hope said the bill has been submitted to the House’s digital system, but due to backlogs in updates and needing approval for final language, it might not be visible in the system until next week.
The Alliance for Progressive Values took the lead on helping get this bill before the GA. Victoria Bragunier, Policy Director for APV, said the practice of conversion therapy harkens back to the days of shock treatment and the use of dangerous drugs. Add to that the main stream mental health communities’ acceptance of homosexuality and you’re left with a pseudo science option for an issue that requires no treatment. “With that kind of quackery, it lays open a minefield of abuse for people who don’t have a mental disorder. When you throw into that treatment for children, the vulnerability is dangerous.”
In May of 2012, the World Health Organization released a statement on the 20th anniversary of the removal of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders and took the chance to condemn the practice of conversation therapy.
“Since homosexuality is not a disorder or a disease, it does not require a cure. There is no medical indication for changing sexual orientation,” said Pan American Health Organization (With the WHO) Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago. “Practices known as “reparative therapy” or “conversion therapy” represent “a serious threat to the health and well-being—even the lives—of affected people.”
As more information becomes available there will be updates on the bill and its precise wording. Meanwhile, expect a shit storm out of the Family Foundation. Likewise, it will be interesting to see how Republican Members of the General Assembly who pushed for ridiculous restrictions on abortion clinic out of supposed "concern for the health and safety of women" will try to justify voting against a ban supported by every legitimate medical and health care association in America.
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