Thread by @justdad7

The response from @MinJusticeEn to the petition of @GilleanSays is filled with sloppy thinking. Conversion therapy is described as a practice which discriminates against LGBTQ2 people. But conversion therapy is not a single practice and LGBTQ2 people are a diverse community. /2

https://twitter.com/GilleanSays/status/1354125570573967360

The Bill simply copies talking points from lobby groups rather than than attempting to apply serious legal analysis. The government has either not read or chosen to ignore the multiple briefs which argued that sexual orientation and gender identity are different. /3

The Minister says that the mental health and medical professions denounce conversion therapy aimed at
"achieving a cisgender or heterosexual outcome." While there is a professional consensus that changing sexual orientation is wrong there is no agreement on gender identity. /4

I have not seen any evidence that the government consulted with any therapists working with gender dysphoria, event those committed to the affirmative model, in drafting the bill. The exceptions in the bill provide little or no guidance as to what is and is not permissible. /5

For example, a girl on the autism spectrum may believe that she has a boy's brain in a girl's body. Is a therapist who works with her to understand her condition, rather than prescribing testosterone, helping her explore her true identity or favoring a cisgender outcome? /6

The language of the bill puts therapists at risk for doing what professionals do in every other field of medicine: explore non-invasive therapies before therapies involving drugs and surgeries. The last part of the response refers to Gender Based Analysis Plus framework. /7

Has the GBA+ been published? The only research I have seen relates to male homosexuals. The only hope I see in this response is that it will be easier to bring a Charter challenge of a really badly worded law.

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