The Time Has Come…

…To make “Conversion Therapy” or as it is also known as “Reparative Therapy” illegal. There is an article last week in the New York Times about conversion therapy, “Is It Child Abuse to Make a Trans Child ‘Change’?” by three authors who discuss the topic. The first is by Cristan Williams the editor of the TransAdvocate, points out that the parents think they are helping their child but in reality they are hurting the child,

If Leelah Alcorn’s parents forced her into "conversion therapy,” I’m certain they thought they were helping her to become the heterosexual boy they believed she should be. I’m fairly certain that they wouldn’t have known how dangerous this practice is because there have been numerous anti-L.G.B.T. groups peddling this psychological snake oil to vulnerable families for decades. If I had to guess, I’d be willing to bet that the Alcorns were told that conversion therapy could be helpful and I’d be surprised if the reparative therapist disclosed to the Alcorns that the consensus of the medical and psychological community is that reparative therapy is harmful, especially when performed on youth.

While Jessica Valenti article points out that conversion therapy tells the child that they will not mount to anything,

L.G.B.T. youth need support from their families -- not derision. If you tell a child or teenager they’re not good enough, that they’re worthless, that who they are is broken or wrong, that’s abuse. So-called conversion therapy -- ideologically based counseling that teaches L.G.B.T people they can be “fixed” to be straight or cisgender -- is no different. I don't know the details of Leelah Alcorn's therapy or what her home life was like beyond what her online notes describe -- but forcing L.G.B.T children to attend counseling that tells them that who they are is shameful or "sick" is child abuse.

Breaking down a person’s self-esteem is not good therapy; it is the exact opposite of what therapy is supposed to do. I know for me I was depressed until I built up my self-esteem was I able to transition, before that I was very withdrawn.

The last article in the Times is by Jody L. Herman who writes about what research has shown,

So, what will work? For transgender people, researchers have found that family acceptance, social support and having a connection to the transgender community all reduce psychological distress and suicide attempts. Therefore, efforts to increase family acceptance, such as the Family Acceptance Project, and peer support among transgender people are promising interventions.

Love may not conquers all, but it sure helps.

A friend, Peterson Toscano tells the story of his ordeal with conversion therapy.

Peterson Toscano spent two decades and $30,000 trying to become straight.
 
He subjected himself to countless hours of learning to be what others described as more masculine and to be attracted to women.


Toscano’s “gay rehab” quest took him across three continents. It included three exorcisms and a failed five-year marriage.
 
In 1999, emotionally devastated, Toscano embraced his sexual orientation.
[…]
In reparative therapy, blame is often parceled out to either an overbearing parent, a negative experience or simple misbehavior, he said. The worst of the therapies included violent exorcisms, Toscano said.
 
“It brings a level of spiritual abuse,” he said. “It’s not just that you are sinful, but that you are potentially housing an evil spirit. For a young person to hear that — that’s a very scary thing.”
 
One of his lowest points came after two years in the residential program for “ex-gays” run by Love in Action of Memphis, Tenn., which Toscano said drained him of joy and humanity.
 
“When it didn’t work, I was told that it was my fault. That I didn’t try hard enough, didn’t want it enough,” he said. “It was constantly undermining my sense of self and the way that the world works. They try to unsettle you so you don’t trust your own ideas, your own opinions.”

He wrote a one man play about his experience called “Doin’ Time In The Homo No Mo’ Halfway House”


It is time for “Conversion Therapy” or “Reparative Therapy” be banned from being done on minors.