Christian broadcaster Dr Michael L. Brown says proposed legislation in California that would outlaw conversion therapy is discriminatory because it will stop people who want to resit being gay or transgender from seeking help from medical professionals.
Writing on Christian news site Lifesite Brown argues that there are cases where it should be acceptable to offer people counselling to help them turn from gay to straight.
Offering therapy to minors that suggests you can change your sexuality from homosexual to heterosexual is illegal in California, now there is a proposal to extend that law to all ages.
Brown uses the example of a girl who is raped by her Uncle when she is eight years old, who as a teenager rejects men because of her traumatic experience.
“This would apply to a 14-year-old girl who was raped by her uncle at the age of 8 and now feels repulsion from men and attraction toward women. If her parents stood with her and she wanted to meet with a trained counselor to get to the root of her attractions, in some states, that would be illegal. No professional counselor or therapist or psychologist would be allowed to help her.” Brown wrote.
Brown says allowing counselling that embraces gender and sexuality difference, but outlawing counselling that aims to make people straight is an assault on people’s rights.
“This defies all logic and can be seen only for what it is: a frontal assault on our freedom to self-determination. A frontal assault on our freedom of religion. And a frontal assault on our freedom of conscience.” Brown said.
Brown also addressed the issue on his YouTube broadcast, where once again he proposed that people are often same sex attracted because they have been molested.
“You’ve got a seventeen year old boy, maybe he was molested growing up, he’s confused, he feels attracted to the same sex but he doesn’t want to be. His parents are standing with him, he wants to see a professional councilor but there are a number of states now that have made that illegal.” Brown said.
Brown has a long history of opposing LGBTI rights and previously declared that allowing people of the same gender to wed would lead to people marrying robots.
Lawmaker Evan Low who has introduced the bill says that study after study have shown that there is no truth to claims that counselling can turn people straight.
“Study after study has shown that conversion therapy is ineffective, damaging and counterproductive,” said Low in a release. “It is our duty to protect Californians from such deceptive practices that will expose them to physical and emotional harm.”
Low says professional counselling organisations have for a long time recognised that the methodology of conversion therapy does not work.
Conversion therapy aims to change a patient’s sexual orientation through counseling, hypnosis, or in some rare cases, electric shock treatment.
In his media release Low highlighted that the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Medical Association all oppose the practice on the basis that it is not evidence-based and potentially harmful to the patient’s mental health.
Those opposed to the practice say it also contributes to social stigma by characterizing homosexuality as a mental illness, a view that has been discredited for decades.
OIP Staff
