Great news out of California!
A bill that would require ban the practice of "ex-gay" therapy on children passed yesterday out of the California Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development.
Introduced by State Senator Ted Lieu (D), SB 1172 would completely bar "ex-gay" therapy for individuals under the age of eighteen. It would also require informed consent from any adult wishing to undergo the therapy by mandating that he or she sign a disclaimer. The disclaimer is pretty awesome:
Having a lesbian, gay, or bisexual sexual orientation is not a mental disorder. There is no scientific evidence that any types of therapies are effective in changing a person’s sexual orientation. Sexual orientation change efforts can be harmful. The risks include, but are not limited to, depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior.
Medical and mental health associations that oppose the use of sexual orientation change efforts include the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Counseling Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
Boom! Take that, NARTH.
Even though it has been advanced by the Senate committee, it still likely has a long road and an uncertain future ahead of it. Predictably, NARTH (National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) is going apeshit. From a NARTH e-mail marked "Urgent!":
Senate Bill 1172 introduced by Senator Ted Lieu, will be reviewed at a hearing in Sacramento on Monday and NARTH has sent an official delegation to speak to the bill and lobby legislators.
For many years gay activists have been trying to convince the public the homosexual attractions cannot be changed. Since the evidence proves otherwise, they then moved on to trying to convince us that change therapies are “dangerous”, but once again even the American Psychological Association agrees that no such evidence is available. Now in what is apparently a move of desperation they are trying to accomplish through fines and sanctions aimed directly at individual clients and their therapists what they could not accomplish through misinformation.
[...]
While this is a direct assault on everyone’s freedom it is also a not so subtle attack on religious liberty. Individuals of faith often seeking to live lives congruent with their religious convictions are often motivated to seek help for their homosexual attractions. This type of legislation would in effect criminalize those formerly ethical relationships between a client and their therapist unless those interactions were supervised by agents of the state.
"Freedom." "Religious liberty." "Ethical relationships." I'd laugh, but this kind of evil isn't funny in the least. It's sick and destructive. Just what in the fuck is "ethical" about subjecting a child (or an adult, for that matter) to this kind of torture?
All NARTH had to rely on during witness testimony was two studies that have been debunked and renounced. They're full of shit, but that's not going to stop them from fighting this bill with everything they've got.
If you live in California, I think some phone calls are in order. This bill would be a huge step forward and an enormous blow to the "ex-gay" movement. At the very least, it would protect vulnerable LGBT children who don't have a choice of whether or not to be subjected to this cruel therapy. It's time for the law to catch up with the mainstream medical organizations that have again and again declared this therapy harmful and dangerous.