1/ This legislation *sounds* good because gay conversion therapy IS bad. However, they have stealthily included "gender identity" alongside "sexual orientation", which means gender dysphoric kids can only be administered "affirmation" therapy, which only helps solidify dysphoria.
2/ Homosexuality harms no one, and thus there is no reason anyone should try to "convert" anyone into being straight. Plus, it doesn't work. It's truly bad practice, and in many extreme instances absolutely terrorizes gay children. Gay conversion therapy SHOULD be outlawed.
3/ A diagnosis of gender dysphoria, however, often sets a child down a pathway to puberty blockers, hormones, surgery, and permanent infertility. Importantly, most (~85%) gender dysphoric youths outgrow feelings of dysphoria during puberty and most mature into homosexual adults.
4/ By including "gender identity" in the legislation on conversion therapy, treatment options for all gender dysphoric youths are limited to "affirmation" therapy only, which doesn't allow doctors to address any potential underlying causes & only solidifies feelings of dysphoria.
5/ To put a fine point on it, this means that a lot of kids who would have naturally outgrown their feelings of dysphoria and mature into happy homosexual adults will instead be medically and surgically transitioned.
6/ THIS is the real conversion therapy going on: converting homosexual children's bodies to resemble the opposite sex in order to bring them into “proper” alignment with their gender nonconforming behavior, personalities, and preferences.
This is anything but progressive.
This is anything but progressive.
7/ This is dangerous, and shows the power of language.
They exploit our association of "conversion therapy" with "bad" in order to pass legislation with new wording that's actually likely to cause significant harm, because gender dysphoria and homosexuality are NOT comparable.
They exploit our association of "conversion therapy" with "bad" in order to pass legislation with new wording that's actually likely to cause significant harm, because gender dysphoria and homosexuality are NOT comparable.
