When they are losing, many people will do desperate things. When faced with the facts that those things are wrong and harmful, desperate people will ignore the truth. The result? Proposed legislation that authorizes the mental torture of our youth.
And non-affirming Christians are standing and shouting “Praise God!”
It is disgusting and indefensible.
Please read this letter to the editor, in response to the Oklahoma State Legislature’s plan to make “conversion therapy” legal…
“I’m not gay or lesbian, and I don’t have children or grandchildren who are gay or lesbian. What I am is furious! The “conversion” bill now before Oklahoma legislators smacks of the eugenics* one of our foes in World War II practiced. I’m offended by this bill and offended for any young person wanting to come out to their parents. The passage of such a bill will certainly let the child know their parents don’t love them for who they are. If this bill should pass, I suggest those kids keep their mouths shut and ask questions after they’re 18.
“Conversion is simply another word for brainwashing, especially if the aim of the conversion is for the child to cohere to a religious belief. Who’s going to do the therapy? I cannot imagine any counselor worth their diploma agreeing to do something so backward and wrong. Would our elected officials kindly use some common sense and toss this frivolous use of legislative time and money in the trash bin? There are so many other things legislators should be concerned with.”
Sandy Jones, Oklahoma City
We just saw the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. For 70 years we have sifted through horrifying stories of eugenics… of hatred, murder, torture. How much harm do we have to regret having willfully allowed, before we stop willfully allowing plans to harm?
So-called “conversion therapy” is harmful. It has been repeatedly debunked. We should not allow it to be inflicted on anyone, and especially children who have no way out of it. Yet, Oklahoma (and other states and so-called church ministries) is saying okay – despite overwhelming concrete evidence of harm. Accredited medical communities** have renounced “conversion therapy,” but still it continues to crop up.
Desperate people do desperate things.
A government’s job is to protect and defend. “Conversion therapy” does not protect or defend. A parent’s job is to love – to guide, protect and provide for. “Conversion therapy” does none of that. It is eugenics, and the last century should have made us sick at the thought of it.
Please stop. Please.
* “The American elite’s pre-World War II commitment to breeding out the “unfit” — defined variously as racial minorities, low-I.Q. whites, the mentally and physically handicapped, and the criminally inclined — is a story that defies easy stereotypes about progress and enlightenment.” – New York Times Sunday Review
** “The organizations signing on to this primer and issued individual statements against conversions therapies are: The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American School Counselor Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of Social Workers, National Education Association and the School Social Work Association of America.” Source
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