White House Supports Efforts to Ban "Ex-Gay" Therapy

The Obama White House has given Christofascists and homophobes another reason to hate this president:  in response to a petition to a petition submitted to the White House, the Obama administration has announced that it supports efforts to ban "ex-gay" or "conversion" therapy, a form of voodoo like therapy that needs to be banned nationwide.  Despite being condemned by every legitimate medical and mental health association in America, because of the ridiculous and undeserved deference give to so-called "religious belief" quacks and charlatans continue to be ale to inflict this poisonous, psychological - and sometimes physical abuse - on minors in all but a handful of states in America.   Here are highlights from the White House response:

The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm.

As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.

The medical and mental health communities have long made clear that they reject the practice of conversion therapy, aimed at “changing” one’s sexual orientation. Recently, efforts to change an individual’s gender identity have also been shown in countless instances to have dangerous effects. More than 40 years ago, the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, and in 1998 released a statement “[opposing] any psychiatric treatment, such as ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy.” It asserted that “such directed efforts are against fundamental principles of psychoanalytic treatment and often result in substantial psychological pain by reinforcing damaging internalized attitudes.”[2]

Similarly, the American Psychological Association has repeatedly affirmed its stance against these practices, recently stating that efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation can pose serious health risks to LGBTQ+ individuals. Numerous other accredited medical and mental health organizations have echoed this sentiment, including the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Counseling Association.

As part of their duty to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens, several states have taken their own steps to protect minors from the potentially dangerous effects of conversion therapy. California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia have all banned licensed professionals from using conversion therapy on minors. Since last year, lawmakers in 18 other states have introduced similar legislation.

In a 2013 signing statement for his state’s legislative ban, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expressed that “exposing children to these health risks without clear evidence of the benefits that outweigh these serious risks is not appropriate.”[3] In February 2015, a New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that advertising a service that could change a person’s sexuality is fraudulent and violates the state’s consumer protection laws.

While a national ban would require congressional action, we are hopeful that the clarity of the evidence combined with the actions taken by these states will lead to broader action that this Administration would support.

Submitting minors to "ex-gay" therapy is child abuse plain and simple.  Parents that force their children into such bogus therapy need to permanently lose custody of their children.  "Conversion" therapy needs to be seen to be no different than depriving a child of life saving medical treatment.  Parents that place their children in such programs need to be criminally prosecuted for child abuse.

Transgender Teenager Leaves Suicide Note Blaming her Christian Parents for Her Death

I am on record as calling LGBT youth being raised by Christian fundamentalist parents a form of child abuse.  The heartbreaking suicide of 17 year old Leelah Alcorn over the weekend underscores this reality.   Leelah, who born male in a moving suicide note blamed her Christian parents for her decision to end her tortured life.  Rather than accept her or get her the legitimate therapy she needed, her parents forced her to see "Christian therapists" who shamed her and relied on the supposed teachings of the Bible, that book responsible for so much bloodshed and misery over the centuries, to try to force her to reject what she knew was her true self.  In my view, her parents (and the "Christian therapists") should be indicted, tried and convicted of felony child abuse.  Leelah's sad story underscores why "ex-gay" therapy needs to be banned nationwide and quacks parading as "Christian therapists" need to be put out of business. The Daily Mail looks at this sad story.  Here are excerpts:

A transgender teenager who committed suicide by walking in front of a tractor trailer in Ohio left a heartbreaking letter in which she blamed her religious parents.

Leelah Alcorn, 17, died in the early hours of Sunday on highway I-71 in Warren County, Ohio, a few miles from her family home.

The high school student left a poignant suicide note accusing her devout Christian parents of refusing to acknowledge her gender and forbidding her from transitioning.

The suicide note was posted on Leelah's tumblr account through scheduled publishing just a few hours after her death.

The note begins: 'If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue.' 

Leelah goes on to reveal that her parents refused to allow her to transition and instead took her to 'Christian therapists' who told her that she was 'selfish and wrong'. 

'I formed a sort of a “f*** you” attitude towards my parents and came out as gay at school, thinking that maybe if I eased into coming out as trans it would be less of a shock. 

'Although the reaction from my friends was positive, my parents were pissed. They felt like I was attacking their image, and that I was an embarrassment to them. 

'They wanted me to be their perfect little straight Christian boy, and that’s obviously not what I wanted.'

'On my 16th birthday, when I didn’t receive consent from my parents to start transitioning, I cried myself to sleep.'

Leelah then adds: 'I’m never going to be happy. Either I live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes he were a woman or I live my life as a lonelier woman who hates herself.  

It's telling to me that Leelah'sparents said that she was "selfish."  If anyone was selfish, it was her parents who in all likelihood were more worried about what people would think of them than the welfare of their child.  If there is a Hell, her parents deserve to burn in it for eternity.   Here are excerpts for her suicide note: 

If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue.

Please don’t be sad, it’s for the better. The life I would’ve lived isn’t worth living in… because I’m transgender. I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and I’ve felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally “boyish” things to try to fit in.

When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.

My mom started taking me to a therapist, but would only take me to christian therapists, (who were all very biased) so I never actually got the therapy I needed to cure me of my depression. I only got more Christians telling me that I was selfish and wrong and that I should look to God for help.

When I was 16 I realized that my parents would never come around, and that I would have to wait until I was 18 to start any sort of transitioning treatment, which absolutely broke my heart. The longer you wait, the harder it is to transition. I felt hopeless, that I was just going to look like a man in drag for the rest of my life. On my 16th birthday, when I didn’t receive consent from my parents to start transitioning, I cried myself to sleep.

I formed a sort of a “fuck you” attitude towards my parents and came out as gay at school, thinking that maybe if I eased into coming out as trans it would be less of a shock. Although the reaction from my friends was positive, my parents were pissed. They felt like I was attacking their image, and that I was an embarrassment to them. They wanted me to be their perfect little straight christian boy, and that’s obviously not what I wanted.

So they took me out of public school, took away my laptop and phone, and forbid me of getting on any sort of social media, completely isolating me from my friends. This was probably the part of my life when I was the most depressed, and I’m surprised I didn’t kill myself. I was completely alone for 5 months. No friends, no support, no love. Just my parent’s disappointment and the cruelty of loneliness.

After a summer of having almost no friends plus the weight of having to think about college, save money for moving out, keep my grades up, go to church each week and feel like shit because everyone there is against everything I live for, I have decided I’ve had enough. I’m never going to transition successfully, even when I move out. I’m never going to be happy with the way I look or sound. I’m never going to have enough friends to satisfy me. I’m never going to have enough love to satisfy me. I’m never going to find a man who loves me. I’m never going to be happy. Either I live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes he were a woman or I live my life as a lonelier woman who hates herself. There’s no winning. There’s no way out. I’m sad enough already, I don’t need my life to get any worse. People say “it gets better” but that isn’t true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse.

I cannot know what it feels like to be transgender, but it has to be far worse than being gay in a homophobic society. With two serious suicide attempts in my past, I can understand how Leelah came to the point where suicide seemed the best solution.  She wanted the pain and misery to stop and not much beyond that.  As for her parents, I hope they come to realize they murdered their child.  As for other "godly Christian" parents who reject their LGBT children, they have only my utter contempt.  I hope with time society as a whole will come to treat them with contempt and derision and make them social outcasts.  They deserve such treatment.

 

Texas GOP Backs Ex-Gay Therapy

If one wants to see the damage being done to the Republican brand look no farther than the Texas GOP which just endorsed the totally discredited "ex-gay" conversion therapy as part of its platform.  Republican elected officials in Texas now need to have "I'm a whore" tattooed across their foreheads.  Either that or perhaps "I'm an ignorance embracing moron."  This move confirms that the GOP has become largely a religious party that is more concerned with pushing extreme right Christian ideology that anything else other than perhaps slashing more taxes for the wealthy and further increasing inequality in America.  A piece in the Houston Chronicle looks at this breath taking embrace of ignorance.  Here are highlights:

Delegates have stripped language from the party’s plank on homosexuality that says: “we affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God.” However, delegates have inserted language that supports therapy or treatment to “escape from the homosexual lifestyle.”

“We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.”

Note: This change drew some ire during testimony Thursday morning, with at least one delegate imploring the committee to return to the platform language about homosexuality tearing at the fabric of society.

A Repsonse to Parents Abusing Children Through "Ex-Gay" Therapy

Click image to enlarge

I've gone on the record before stating that in my view parents who subject their children to fraudulent "ex-gay" therapy are guilty of a form of child abuse and, in an ideal world, should be prosecuted for felony child abuse.  It's the parents, not the gay child, who need an intervention.  Unfortunately, too often people are reluctant to call out the parent and tell them that they are the one with the "problem."  Not so advice columnist "Ask Amy," who had a wonderful response (which can be viewed here) to one such bigoted parent.  The image above is a copy of the response.   I love that the response suggests that the parent get in touch with the local PFLAG chapter!  Huffington Post noted Amy's spot on advice.  Here are excerpts:

Advice columnist "Ask Amy," otherwise known as Amy Dickinson, had some choice words for a parent who just doesn't know what to do with their gay son, as he just "won’t listen to reason, and he will not stop being gay."

The parent, penned as "feeling betrayed," is extremely concerned about what their church group will think if they find out about their gay son. "I feel as if he is doing this just to get back at me for forgetting his birthday for the past three years -- I have a busy work schedule," the parent explains in their letter.

Dickinson's incredible response to this delusional parent opens with a suggestion to "teach your son an important lesson by changing your own sexuality to show him how easy it is. Try it for the next year or so: Stop being a heterosexual to demonstrate to your son that a person’s sexuality is a matter of choice -- to be dictated by one’s parents, the parents’ church and social pressure."

Dickinson's advice comes on the heels of a growing awareness about the dangers of gay conversion therapy, and moves to make the practice illegal in a number of states after it was outlawed in California and New Jersey.

Frankly, if this supposedly concerned parent forgot their child's birthday for three years, it speaks volumes about what a poor parent this individual is.  It seems that this parent is more concerned about them self and "what people will think" than they are about their child.

Far Right: "Satan Is 'Convincing People They Were Born Gay"

In follow up to a post earlier today, the "godly Christian folk" continue to make it painfully clear that they reserve a special kind of animus for members of the gay community and those in the medical and mental health fields who admit the obvious that one is born gay.  For the Christofascist this amounts to heresy because it means that the supposedly infallible God that the Christofascist pretend to worship made some of us gay by His/Her design.  All of which results in the Christofascist playing God themselves and claiming that gays can become heterosexual with a little religion and "therapy.  A rant by D.L. Foster of Voice of the Voiceless and Ex-Gay Pride/Awareness Month underscore the lunacy that is treated as mainstream thought among the Kool-Aid drinking Christofascist set.  Here are highlights from Right Wing Watch:

“So many people who get out get sucked back into it,” he laments. Foster asserts that Satan is “convincing people that they were born gay and should cease struggling and accept it.”

If homosexuality isn’t the biggest/greatest sin, then why are so many people bound in it and cant [sic] get out? Why is the devil convincing people that they were born gay and should cease struggling and accept it? Why do so many people who get out, get sucked back into it?

If homosexuality is just an average sin on par with the others, then why is the whole world (literally) being seduced into accepting it as normal? Why has the most powerful man in the world (POTUS) made it his personal mission to advocate for it worldwide? Why does it strike such fear in the hearts of Christian preachers with thousands of followers, rendering them silent?

Foster is also upset about the response of gay rights advocates to Russia’s ban on homosexual “propaganda,” asserting that “the homosexual community as a whole are [sic] like a mob of angry 4 year olds” and are too mean in their protests against Vladimir Putin.
“Their President, patron saint, CinCity and frequent White House private gay party host Barak [sic] Obama has taken the panic defense to new levels of desperation,” Foster continues, “Obama has bravely dedicated his life to the success of the gay comrades.”
- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dl-foster-satan-convincing-people-they-were-born-gay-and-has-sucked-ex-gays-back#sthash.UZ5XwvER.dpuf

“So many people who get out get sucked back into it,” he laments. Foster asserts that Satan is “convincing people that they were born gay and should cease struggling and accept it.”

If homosexuality isn’t the biggest/greatest sin, then why are so many people bound in it and cant [sic] get out? Why is the devil convincing people that they were born gay and should cease struggling and accept it? Why do so many people who get out, get sucked back into it?

If homosexuality is just an average sin on par with the others, then why is the whole world (literally) being seduced into accepting it as normal? Why has the most powerful man in the world (POTUS) made it his personal mission to advocate for it worldwide? Why does it strike such fear in the hearts of Christian preachers with thousands of followers, rendering them silent?

Foster is also upset about the response of gay rights advocates to Russia’s ban on homosexual “propaganda,” asserting that “the homosexual community as a whole are [sic] like a mob of angry 4 year olds” and are too mean in their protests against Vladimir Putin..

“Their President, patron saint, CinCity and frequent White House private gay party host Barak [sic] Obama has taken the panic defense to new levels of desperation,” Foster continues, “Obama has bravely dedicated his life to the success of the gay comrades.”

Despite a dismal economy, off the radar, black on black gun violence in his “home city” Chicago and one of the most dysfunctional governments in modern history, Obama has bravely dedicated his life to the success of the gay comrades.

Yes, it all sounds like the ravings of a lunatic, yet this is what passes for thoughtful, reasoned discourse amongst the Christofascists and much of the GOP base.   It's not gays who need therapy.  Rater it is people like Mr. Foster who ought to be biding his time in a mental ward somewhere.

D.L. Foster of Voice of the Voiceless and Ex-Gay Pride/Awareness Month - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dl-foster-satan-convincing-people-they-were-born-gay-and-has-sucked-ex-gays-back#sthash.UZ5XwvER.dpuf

Gay Country Singer Reveals Ex-Gay Therapy Past

Steve Grand, who is seeking to become the first major country music star who is openly gay, has a video/song (see below) that has gone somewhat viral and in the process won him an interview on Good Morning America.  Grand has been criticized by some for his depiction of gays, but he is nonetheless breaking down barriers.  In addition, he has talked about his experience of being pushed into bogus "ex-gay" therapy.  He talks about this in an article in The Advocate.  Here are highlights:

Steve Grand became an overnight sensation when his gay-themed music video, “All American Boy,” went viral shortly after being posted on YouTube last week.

The video has racked up more than 650,000 views in just six days—an accomplishment on par with some of the most successful artists currently working in the music industry.

However, the independent singer/songwriter wasn’t always as comfortable with his sexuality as he appears in his hit video, and has revealed to ABC that he once endured so-called gay-to-straight reparative therapy after he told his family he was gay.

"I felt like I really was a shame to my parents," Grand said. "I felt like there was no way I could ever make them proud and I felt like I was a constant disappointment."

Since coming to terms with his sexuality, Grand says he was driven to tell the story of his popular power-ballad, risking everything he had to make “All American Boy” a reality.

Kudos to Grand for talking about his experience and coming to terms with being gay.  I look forward to the day when, hopefully, being gay is simply a non-issue.

 

International News | Entertainment | Politics

New Jersey Holds Hearings on Law to Ban "Ex-gay" Therapy

California's law banning "ex-gay" therapy or so-called reparative therapy for those under age 18 remains tied up in the federal courts.  Nonetheless, the New Jersey legislature is proceeding with consideration of its own version of legislation that would protect LGBT minors from fraudulent "ex-gay" therapy which is typically bankrolled by anti-gay hate groups and staffed by "ex-gays for pay," most of whom blame their own past bad decisions on alcohol and drug use and sometimes prostitution on their sexual orientation rather than the religious brainwashing that filled them with self-loathing.  As part of the process, the  New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee has been holding hears.  One witness in support of the bill was Parsippany teen Jacob Rudolph whose coming out speech to his high school went viral on You Tube.  The Daily Record looks at the hearings.  Here are article highlights and excerpts of Rudolph's poignant comments:

Rudolph spoke Monday before the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee in Trenton in support of the bill, S2278, which would ban licensed therapists from trying to make gay New Jersey minors heterosexual.

Most LGBT individuals that spoke did not have the loving support from their parents that Rudolph does. Some were personally subjected to various forms of conversion therapy that the bill is trying to prevent, including electroshock treatment, in an attempt to “cure” them.


“It is beyond baffling to me that anyone might actually believe that sexual orientation is a lifestyle choice that can be altered if desired,” said Rudolph to the Senate committee. “Even more disturbing, however, is that there are organizations whose sole mission is to ‘cure’ LGBT individuals of their orientation to truculent practices that have been deemed harmful and ineffective by the American Psychological Association.”

“What disturbs me the most is that our government would allow orientation-conversion organizations to subject children to such so-called therapy. It is hard enough for LGBT teens to accept that their sexual orientation differentiates them from their classmates. Consequentially, I cannot fathom how emotionally scarring it must be for these kids to be told they are somehow broken and are then manipulated to reject their innate sexual preference and ‘become’ heterosexual again. What strikes me as the most cruel facet of this practice is that these young people cannot defend themselves from being subjected to this harmful practice.”

After hearing testimony from more than two dozen people both supporting and opposing the bill, the Senate voted 7 to 1, with two abstaining, to move the bill to the Senate floor for a vote, making it a step closer to getting it to Christie’s desk. The bill will be brought to the Assembly in April, where Rudolph will either speak again or submit a statement.

New Jersey lawmakers heard other stories about the programs, including from Brielle Goldani of Toms River.  She said that in 1997, at 14, she was sent to a camp in Ohio to become straight.
Goldani told lawmakers she was given electric shocks and drugs to induce vomiting as part of the treatment.  “This is nothing more than legalized child abuse,” said Goldani, of Toms River.

Lawmakers heard of suicides of young people who had been in such programs and that many associations of professional therapists say they are not valid ways to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth.

“These practices are based on the false idea that being LGBTQ is a mental illness that needs to be cured,” said Alison Gill, a lobbyist for The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to young gays, “an idea which has been rejected by every major mental health group for decades.”

These bogus forms of therapy need to be banned nationwide - for both minors and adults.  Rather than being "treated" to change their sexual orientation, LGBT individuals need to receive counseling on how to let go of and move past the religious based poison that so many of us were subjected to growing up no matter how well meaning our parents.

New Jersey to Consider Ban on "Ex-Gay" Therapies; Christian Whack Job Sues California

Even as proponents of fraudulent ex-gay therapy move to sue the state of California for banning ex-gay therapy for those under the age of 18, their worst nightmare be starting to transpire: New Jersey may consider legislation that would implement a similar ban on such "therapy" which finds no scientific, medical or mental health support.  At least not outside of Christianist funded "ex-gays for pay,"  most of whom seem to be former alcoholics, drug users and prostitutes - i.e., the dredges of society who would do anything to find acceptance.  First these highlights from South Florida Gay News on developments in New Jersey followed by the issues of lawsuits in California.

Democratic Assemblyman Timothy Eustace, an openly gay father of two, is set to introduce a bill next week that would make it illegal for parents to subject their children to undergo “sexual conversion” therapy.  According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the bill will probably face resistance from anti-gay, conservative groups, and it’s unclear what would be the reaction of Republican Gov. Chris Christie to the legislation.

“I see it as a form of child abuse,’ Eustace told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Being gay is not an illness, so what are they fixing.”  Two Democratic state senators, Raymond Lesniak and Stephen Sweeney, plan to co-sponsor a similar bill in the New Jersey Senate House.

“Parents don't have the right to endanger their children by participating in a practice that has no basis in science whatsoever,” Sen. Sweeney said.  If the bill were to pass, New Jersey would become the second state in the U.S. to ban “ex-gay” therapies.

California became the first state to ban such therapy on Sept. 29.  The therapies "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery," California Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement.

But now back to developments in California where an, in my opinion,  obviously mentally disturbed college student who claims he once had same-sex attractions but became heterosexual after conversion therapy has filed a lawsuit against California.  Pardon me, but I'd love to know which of the anti-gay hate groups is secretly funding this litigation.  ABC News has coverage on this lawsuit which may well prove to be the death knell for the reparative therapy crowd who will not be able to find legitimate experts to support their bogus claims.  Here are highlights:

A college student who claims he once had same-sex attractions but became heterosexual after conversion therapy has filed a lawsuit against California, which has enacted a law that bans so-called "gay cures" for minors.

The lawsuit, also joined as plaintiffs by two therapists who have used the treatments with patients, alleges that the law banning the therapy intrudes on First Amendment protections of free speech, privacy and freedom of religion.

The student, Aaron Blitzer, who is studying to be a therapist in that field, said the law would prevent him from pursuing his career, according to court papers filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

The lawsuit names as defendants California Gov. Jerry Brown, as well as 21other state officials, including members of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and the California Medical Board.

The other plaintiffs are Donald Welsch, a licensed family therapist and ordained minister who operates a Christian counseling center in San Diego; and Dr. Anthony Duk, a psychiatrist and practicing Roman Catholic.

Several members of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and the California Mental Board were named in the lawsuit.  "Our board voted to support that piece of legislation after working with the author's office to further define sexual orientation change efforts," said Kim Madsen, executive officer for the sciences board, which licenses and oversees therapists.

The American Psychiatric Association has outlawed conversion therapies for more than a decade, insisting they are harmful.

The reality is that there is no right to inflict dangerous and fraudulent beliefs and treatment A prime example is Christian extremists who want to rely on prayer alone to cure seriously ill children and try to withhold medical treatment.  The are numerous cases where such parents have been criminally prosecuted and convicted for child abuse and/or neglect.  Subjecting a minor to bogus and psychologically damaging "ex-gay" conversion therapy is no different. I truly hope the plaintiffs go down in flames and set legal precedent for just who dangerous and fraudulent these "ex-gay" therapies are in fact