We can make up our own minds.
There is a lot of talk in the LGBTQ+ community about the laws banning Conversion Therapy most centered around the exemptions… religious organizations and adults.
As much as we would like to ban conversion therapy entirely, reality steps in. Can we tell a cognizant adult what they can and cannot do? I know a gay man who went to conversion therapy it took him many years to realize the stupidity of the so called therapy and I know of others it has done lasting harm to. I know I don’t want to be told what I can and cannot do, we live by our mistakes and sometimes we learn by the school of hard knocks.
Likewise we are limited in what we can dictate what religion can and cannot do. We can take away the licenses of the professionals but when it comes to “religious leaders” are hands are tied.
For better or worse we are bound by these constraints.
There is a lot of talk in the LGBTQ+ community about the laws banning Conversion Therapy most centered around the exemptions… religious organizations and adults.
A shockingly high number of transgender Americans are forced into conversion therapyWhat the study didn’t define was the age of the trans people who underwent conversion therapy and that is important because you cannot stop an adult from having conversion therapy.
Trans people in Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana were the most likely to be forced into it.
LGBTQ Nation
By Gwendolyn Smith
August 23, 2019
A study released by the American Journal of Public Health reveals that 13.5% of transgender Americans have undergone conversion therapy within their lifetime.
Conversion therapy, which has been banned in 18 states as well as Puerto Rico, Washington DC, and several counties and municipalities, is the widely discredited practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through religious or psychological intervention, including torturous techniques like shock therapy.
[…]
The states with the widest use of conversion therapy on transgender people over their lifetimes were Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana. More than 20% of transgender residents in these states have been subject to conversion therapy.
The lowest percentage was from South Carolina, at only 9.4%.
Even when the numbers were limited to just 2010-2015, researchers still found that 5% of transgender people overall faced conversion therapy over those five years, with a range of just 1.2% in Alaska and up to 16.3% in South Dakota.
As much as we would like to ban conversion therapy entirely, reality steps in. Can we tell a cognizant adult what they can and cannot do? I know a gay man who went to conversion therapy it took him many years to realize the stupidity of the so called therapy and I know of others it has done lasting harm to. I know I don’t want to be told what I can and cannot do, we live by our mistakes and sometimes we learn by the school of hard knocks.
Likewise we are limited in what we can dictate what religion can and cannot do. We can take away the licenses of the professionals but when it comes to “religious leaders” are hands are tied.
For better or worse we are bound by these constraints.
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