Friday, September 13, 2019

Wash The Gay Out Of You Hair

There have been much take about the conversion therapy laws and how they should cover adults as well as children. Well down in New York City they did that and they ran into a road block called the First Amendment.
New York City looks to repeal 'gay conversion therapy' ban
Associated Press By Deepti Hajela
September 12, 2019

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City law banning so-called gay conversion therapy would be repealed under legislation introduced Thursday over concerns that a pending federal lawsuit could lead to a decision unfavorable to the LGBTQ community if the case were to make it to the Supreme Court.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson introduced the repeal in what he called "a painful decision."

The council had passed the ban against the widely discredited practice, which aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, less than two years ago, at the end of 2017, and it took effect last year.

The proposed repeal now goes to a committee hearing, scheduled for next week, and then would have a vote in the full council and, if it is passed, would be signed by the mayor.
So why are they repealing the law?
The Alliance Defending Freedom had filed a federal lawsuit over ban in January on behalf of a therapist in Brooklyn, saying it violated free speech between a therapist and client.

Alliance Senior Counsel Roger Brooks said that if the repeal goes through, the organization would "commend the move."
But even the laws that only ban minors are being challenged.
The therapy has been banned for minors in other states, as well. Brooks said there are currently challenges to some of those laws by other organizations, which he expected would continue.
I think those laws have a very good chance of not being overturned, however with the Republicans flooding the courts with religious judges who knows.



Update 9/13/10 7:00 PM

Another article came out about the repeal of the conversion therapy in New York City,
What You Need to Know About NYC’s Repeal of Its Conversion Therapy Ban
Minors could soon be subjected to the dangerous and debunked practice.
by Jeff Taylor 2h ago

New York City has repealed its conversion therapy ban, passed nearly two years ago to protect both minors and adults from the dangerous and debunked practice, designed to change one’s sexual orientation and gender identity.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (above), who is gay and who co-sponsored the legislation banning conversion therapy from being practiced on both adults and minors, announced Thursday the state would act quickly to repeal the ban. This has led to some confusion, but the ban is not being repealed because of a loss of faith in it, but rather due to legal concerns.
[…]
Johnson called the decision “painful” and noted it was not done lightly, but rather settled upon for fear the case could end up at the conservative Supreme Court.
However, there is a New York state ban…
“The legal climate is less favorable at the federal level for the LGBTQ community,” he said. “We crafted the law specifically to pass a legal challenge because we knew this was an area that anti-LGBT legal forces were exploring.”



Yesterday I was interviewed by an interviewer from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) which is part of the Census Bureau. I was one of the 5,500 people selected each month and for those of you who say that I should decline to take the survey I think as a trans person we should be counted. She didn’t even bat an eye when I met her at the door.

She asked just typical health and demographic questions but two questions stood out.

The first question that stood out was, “Male, Female, or Other?” She did a pretty good “Mr. Spock” impersonation by raising one eyebrow.

The other question was about sexual orientation, straight, gay, lesbian, or other?”
There were no questions about gender dysphoria but at least there was a SO question.

No comments:

Post a Comment