Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
I am in LOW POWER MODE, so I don't have much more to say. And what is there to say?
Conversion therapy should be banned, especially for children.
FREE TO BE YOU AND ME
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
Back in June, the United Nations issued a report calling for nations around the world to ban conversion "therapy" for children, owing to the fact that being gay is not a disorder and the fact that the UN generally tends to look down on torturing children.
It is generally unethical for health-care professionals to purport to treat anything that is not a disorder, and they are compelled by the "do no harm" principle not to offer treatments that are recognized as ineffective or purport to achieve unattainable results. For those and other reasons, the Independent Forensic Expert Group of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, a group of preeminent international medicolegal specialists from 23 countries, has declared that offering "conversion therapy" is a form of deception, false advertising and fraud.
But this is America and apparently, it's totes legal to torture children here so long as you claim that it is their religion to be tortured.
In a 2-1 decision today, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals voided bans on conversion therapy in Boca Raton and South Beach County in Florida on the grounds that they violated the First Amendment. The two votes for were appointed by Trump, with the dissenting vote appointed by Obama, so that's ... not at all surprising.
The bans did not apply to adults making an adult decision to de-gay themselves for whatever reason, but rather to children who were being sent to conversion therapy by parents who don't want them to be gay or bi or trans. Those making the initial complaint were two therapists who claimed that their clients — their underage clients — had "sincerely held religious beliefs conflicting with homosexuality," and that therefore they should be allowed to continue abusing said clients by trying to scare them straight, a thing it is not scientifically possible to do.
Surely, if it is a sincerely held religious belief and it is truly their decision, they can wait until they are 18 to make that decision for themselves.
The fact is, children are not generally allowed to make decisions for themselves when it comes to things that are potentially harmful. For instance, an adult Jehovah's Witness can refuse a blood transfusion for themselves. In a life or death situation, a child cannot, not without a court order. This is at least partially because we understand that we shouldn't put that kind of a decision on a child who could suffer consequences at home should they have to decide on their own that they want to live and get a blood transfusion instead of die without one. Not allowing the child to make that choice in the first place alleviates a whole lot of tension.
It's the same thing with conversion therapy. There is almost never going to be a situation where the parents are fine with their kid being gay and the kid is like, "Nah, I think I'll undergo some pseudoscientific therapy so I can be a heterosexual, just like how Jesus wants!" It is way more likely that these kids will be pressured by their parents or worse. Taking the decision out of everyone's hands until the child is 18 is the kindest thing for everyone involved.
There are lots of decisions where our "First Amendment" rights are curtailed in medical settings. For instance, were I to get an abortion in many states, the doctor would be legally required to lie to me about several things, whether or not they wanted to and whether or not it violated my sincerely held religious beliefs to hear them. Heck, if I were living in Tennessee the doctor would be required to tell me that my medication abortion could be "reversed," a thing that is just as scientifically impossible as changing someone's sexual preference.
Those things are actual First Amendment violations.
The state has a compelling interest to protect children. If a parent were discovered to be psychologically abusing their child, child services could come and take that child away. It shouldn't be any different if you are a therapist and you think the kid is "asking for it."
Living Through Gay Conversion Therapy (Full Length)
Conversion therapy is the practice of "curing" gay people by trying to turn them straight through counseling and lifestyle restrictions.
In this special report, VICE gets exclusive access to one of the hundreds of gay-conversion-therapy organizations, groups, and sessions in the United States. At the Journey into Manhood program, men pay more than $600 to attend a weekend retreat where they participate in exercises and activities the staff members claim will help them battle their same-sex orientation. The only qualification to become a staff member is to have successfully completed the program.
The report meets with the founder of reparative therapy, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, who is illegally practicing on minors in the State of California, and investigates the controversial legal battle to fight conversion therapy for individuals under 18 years of age. We also travel to the annual Gay Christian Network Conference, speak with former "ex-gay" leaders including John Smid of Love in Action, who is now married to his gay partner, and hear the grueling stories of the individuals who have survived this brutal practice.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2011.24 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1971 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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