Conversion Therapy: Last News

2023 study by The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ crisis intervention and suicide prevention nonprofit, found that 15% of LGBTQ youth reported being subjected to conversion therapy, with that subgroup being more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide over the past year than individuals who never underwent conversion therapy.Beshear, an LGBTQ ally, noted that he still hopes Kentucky lawmakers will take action to ban such practices but issued the order due to a lack of action by the state’s Republican-dominated legislature.Lawmakers previously overrode a veto Beshear issued of a sweeping anti-LGBTQ bill that bars gender-affirming care for minors, prohibits schools from acknowledging student’s gender identities and pronouns, and blocks LGBTQ-related content from being talked about in schools.“To me, [the issue is] not even about gender or sexuality. It’s about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them,” Beshear said during the signing on September 17.He pushed back on critics who claim that banning conversion therapy infringes on anti-LGBTQ individuals’ free speech rights or forces individuals to adopt beliefs that may conflict with their religious views.“Today’s action does not force an ideology on anybody.

50-page platform, which delegates approved during the party’s annual state convention in San Antonio on May 25, contains several planks meant to cater to social conservatives. While party platforms are not binding, they generally provide voters with an idea of the issues that will be prioritized by party leadership should they take power and a statement of a party’s values.Among the Texas GOP’s various planks are opposition to marriage equality, including a full repeal of the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that overturned various state bans on same-sex marriage, denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and the refusal to recognize same-sex marriages that were legally performed in other states as valid.The party also espouses the right of business owners or state and county employees to refuse to participate in, provide goods and services for, or be forced to recognize the validity of, marriages between two people of the same gender.The party also opposes criminal or civil penalties, including lawsuits or fines, against those who oppose “nontraditional sexual behavior or same-sex relationships due to their religious convictions.”“We affirm God’s biblical design for marriage and family between one biological man and one biological woman, which has proven to be the foundation for all great nations in Western Civilization,” the platform reads.

diversion or treatment programs designed to decrease the risk of recidivism.According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the now-17-year-old’s father read his son’s diary in 2020, when the youth was 14, and discovered the boy was attracted to other males. The father then imposed various punishments on his son, forcing him to do military-style training runs at night, refrain from shaving, expose his genitals, and read pages from his diary out loud.He also accessed his son’s online social media accounts, monitoring sites he visited and restricting who he could communicate with.When those punishments didn’t work, the father sought help from a psychologist in the hope that the psychologist would affirm the parents’ conservative worldview.

Conversion therapy became infamous after the 2007 “South Park” episode “Cartman Sucks.” Butters Stotch’s parents thinks he is “bi-curious” and send him a pray-the-gay-away camp, where several youth commit suicide after being told they are sexually confused. The Supreme Court on Monday rejected over the objections of three conservative justices a Christian therapist’s free speech challenge to a Washington state ban on conversion therapy for minors. Photo: Comedy Central.

Conversion therapy became infamous after the 2007 “South Park” episode “Cartman Sucks.” Butters Stotch’s parents thinks he is “bi-curious” and send him a pray-the-gay-away camp, where several youth commit suicide after being told they are sexually confused. The Supreme Court on Monday rejected over the objections of three conservative justices a Christian therapist’s free speech challenge to a Washington state ban on conversion therapy for minors. Photo: Comedy Central.

ruled in favor of the state, finding that Tingley’s free speech rights were not violated.But on December 11, three justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh — said they would have heard Tingley’s appeal. “There is a fierce public debate over how best to help minors with gender dysphoria,” Thomas wrote in his dissent.

CNN, Johnson, an attorney by trade, gave legal advice to Exodus International. The pro-conversion therapy organization was the leader in the “ex-gay” movement, which sought to change people’s orientations through a mix of aversion therapy, talk therapy, and religious-based counseling.Exodus eventually shut down in 2013, with its president, Alan Chambers posting a public apology for the “pain and hurt” the organization’s advocacy caused.Chambers would later go on an apology tour, appearing at LGBTQ and Pride events, including Capital Pride, and speaking with LGBTQ news outlets, including Metro Weekly, about what led him to change his stance on conversion therapy, which he had previously hailed as effective, citing his own marriage to a woman.He later came out in favor of bans on conversion therapy for minors.

Bible Belt Baby, was released last October, it didn’t gain as much exposure until Sean Feucht, a Christian nationalist preacher with ties to former President Donald Trump, criticized her and fellow Christian musician, Derek Webb, for working together on the song “Good Day.”Feucht also criticized Grant for performing in drag, calling her collaboration with Webb a sign of “the last days,” and claiming that she’d never carve out a spot within the Christian music genre.Feucht’s comments, which came amid an ongoing right-wing campaign against drag and the visibility of transgender people — as evidenced by the introduction of more than 500 bills specifically targeting public expressions of gender-nonconformity in 49 states — only served to boost Grant’s profile.Not long after people learned of Feucht’s feud with Grant, Bible Belt Baby shot to the top of the iTunes Christian music charts, remaining there for nine straight days, while “Good Day” reached as high as No. 2 on the individual song charts.While the expectation for Christian music stars has generally been to embrace the right-wing ideology that so often accompanies evangelical religious beliefs, Grant’s success on the charts was indicative that there might be some space — even among the genre’s most fervent fans — for artists that don’t adhere to expectations or conform to a certain mold.

Detroit News. “Let’s continue working together to ensure anyone can ‘make it’ in Michigan, expand fundamental freedoms and fight back against any and all forms of discrimination.”The types of techniques used in conversion therapy can run the gamut from more severe forms, such as electroshock therapy, induced vomiting or the infliction of physical discomfort as a form of “aversion therapy” to less severe forms such as talk-based therapy, in which a therapist may encourage patients or clients to conform to Biblical standards of morality or a specific set of religious beliefs.While proponents and opponents of conversion therapy agree that sexuality can be fluid over time and that gender-nonconformity alone is not indicative of either sexual orientation or gender identity, critics of conversion therapy claim that therapists engaging in such practices falsely hold them out as a “cure-all” that will completely eradicate a person’s naturally-occurring same-sex attraction, despite overwhelming medical evidence that such techniques are largely ineffective in achieving such goals.Under the ban, physicians, psychologists, licensed nurses, counselors, social workers, and therapists are prohibited from subjecting minors to conversion therapy in their professional capacity or in exchange for compensation.

Michigan became the 22nd state Wednesday to ban “conversion therapy,” the discredited pseudoscience that attempts to convert gay, lesbian, and bisexual people heterosexual. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed two bills into law Wednesday — House Bill 4617, which defines conversion therapy, and House Bill 4616, which bars licensed therapists from subjecting minors to the practice and lays out penalties for violation, including discipline by public health regulators. Photo: Officer of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Arizona Republic. “The state is leading by example on this issue, and we will continue working until Arizona is a place where every individual can participate equally in our economy and our workforce without fear of discrimination or exclusion,” Hobbs said in prepared remarks. “This is the only way to move our state forward.”Under Hobbs’s first executive order, state agencies will be prohibited from using funds to promote or facilitate conversion therapy, or efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity based on the belief that LGBTQ identities are pathologies that can be suppressed or even “cured.”Most major medical and mental health organizations have denounced conversion therapy as unscientific and, more importantly, ineffective at achieving its purported goals — namely, the ability to radically and permanently  “change” a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or feelings of sexual attraction, as opposed to simply providing subjects with techniques that help them resist giving into or acknowledging their feelings or desires.

Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep.

Andrew Hartzler, the nephew of anti-LGBTQ Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, has once again gone viral for sharing a video of his parents hiring an exorcist to “exorcize the demons” they believe were “responsible” for “making him gay.” Hartzler first went viral in the summer of 2022 after posting a video of his aunt Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler crying after opposing the Respect for Marriage Act of 2022.The Respect for Marriage Act requires states to recognize same-sex marriages made in other states and repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as only between a man and a woman.Using Biblical values as the basis for her argument, the Congresswoman tearfully begged for the bill not to pass.After the bill passed, Andrew Hartzler posted a response to his aunt, pointing out how this kind of speech is “hateful rhetoric and blatant discrimination” against LGBTQ people.Hartlzer went through his aunt’s speech, highlighting her leaps in logic and fundamental ignorance about religion, the government, and LGBTQ people. When the Respect for Marriage Act came to President Biden’s desk, Andrew Hartzler was invited to the signing ceremony on December 13, 2022. Hartzler has since worked at Oklahomans for Equality, an Oklahoma-based LGBTQ advocacy group that operates the Dennis R.

The Anglican archbishop of Sydney has apologised to the clergy after “mistakenly” promoting an event by a gay evangelical in the diocese’s newspaper. The Catholic archdiocese printed an advertisement in their Southern Cross newspaper, which promoted gay rights campaigner Jayne Ozanne’s upcoming talk entitled Unashamedly Gay. Unashamedly Christian, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.Trigger Warning: This story discusses suicide ideation, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.Jayne Ozanne is the director of the Ozanne Foundation, an organisation that works with religious leaders and faith groups across the world with the aim of protecting the rights of LGBTQI people. The advertisement for her talk was taken down from the online edition and replaced with a photograph of a sunset. Archbishop Kanishka Raffel published an announcement to the clergy, declaring his regret over his decision to accept the advertisement. In the newsletter, Archbishop Raffel apologised for causing “distress” to the clergy and affirmed that the editorial process would go under review to prevent mistakes like this from happening in future.

The Anglican archbishop of Sydney has apologised to the clergy after “mistakenly” promoting an event by a gay evangelical in the diocese’s newspaper. The Catholic archdiocese printed an advertisement in their Southern Cross newspaper, which promoted gay rights campaigner Jayne Ozanne’s upcoming talk entitled Unashamedly Gay. Unashamedly Christian, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.Jayne Ozanne is the director of the Ozanne Foundation, an organisation that works with religious leaders and faith groups across the world with the aim of protecting the rights of LGBTQI people. The advertisement for her talk was taken down from the online edition and replaced with a photograph of a sunset. Archbishop Kanishka Raffel published an announcement to the clergy, declaring his regret over his decision to accept the advertisement. In the newsletter, Archbishop Raffel apologised for causing “distress” to the clergy and affirmed that the editorial process would go under review to prevent mistakes like this from happening in future.

Pushed to explain his stance ahead of the elections, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has said he will support a ban on “harmful” gay conversion practices in the state. Days after he claimed that the legislation was a “matter for the cabinet”, Premier Perrottet said that if re-elected, his government would provide “in-principle” support to a ban on practices that seek to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Independent Sydney MP Alex GreenwichOut gay Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich had last week announced that a law to outlaw gay conversion practices would be part of his omnibus Equality Bill. NSW Labor leader Chris Minns declared the party’s support for the legislation.Greenwich had said that his support for a future minority government would depend on them supporting the law in Parliament. “I’m grateful for the Premier’s support to end LGBT conversion practices in NSW.

Reuters.Under the law, which applies equally to all licensed therapists, practitioners who subject minors to the therapy, which purports to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, can be fined, disciplined, or risk having their license to practice suspended or revoked. But Brian Tingley, a therapist who lives in Tacoma and practices in Fircrest, Washington, said the ban amounted to censorship, seeking to silence him from engaging in “talk therapy” to help clients with “unwanted same-sex attraction” overcome their attractions and help them to live lives consistent with their moral values and religious beliefs.

2020 study from the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ think tank at the UCLA School of Law, found that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals subjected to conversion therapy are twice as likely to attempt suicide as those who never underwent it. A similar peer-reviewed study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that LGBTQ youth subjected to conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide and more than two-and-a-half times as likely to report multiple suicide attempts over the past year.But the South Florida bans were soon challenged by two marriage and family therapists in Palm Beach County, who claimed that the bans on conversion therapy discriminated against the therapists’ right to engage in and provide counseling consistent with their clients’ religious beliefs, and their clients’ right to seek treatment to deal with “unwanted same-sex attraction” or gender dysphoria, based on their religious beliefs opposing homosexuality.A federal judge initially ruled against the therapists, but on appeal, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S.

executive order barring conversion therapy, which attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, for people of all ages.Taking unilateral action after the failure of the Republican-led legislature to even consider bills seeking to ban conversion therapy for minors, Wolf has directed state agencies to discourage the practice and instead promote evidence-based practices for supporting LGBTQ individuals who may be struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity.The order also directs the state’s Department of Human Services, Insurance Department, and other agencies to ensure state funds, programs, and contracts are not being used to subject minors to conversion therapy, refer people to therapists who engage in the practice, or provide reimbursement for the therapy. It also directs agencies to investigate any reports of claims that have been paid for conversion therapy through the state’s Medicaid program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or private insurance.The order ensures training for child welfare staff to support LGBTQ youth and their families, and sets the stage for licensing boards to discipline health professionals who violate ethical or professional standards by providing the therapy.

City Builders Church, which has in the past been accused of reportedly encouraging its members to take part in a now-closed gay conversion therapy program run by Living Waters. The church and Heath denied endorsing so-called gay conversion therapy.Shaping up to be a Coalition Party Room that has even less in common with the Victorian community than the current one.Curious strategy.#springst https://t.co/470AOohaq2— Jaala Pulford MP (@JaalaPulford) July 31, 2022The choice of some Liberal candidates has led to concerns both within and outside the party.

Conversion practices survivors and Amnetsy International have called on the governments of Western Australia and South Australia to ban harmful and unscientific conversion practices. They have pointed to Victoria’s “ground-breaking legislation” as an example of how states can “address conversion ideology and practices in a fair and equitable way.” “10% of LGBTQA+ Australians are at risk of conversion practices. For decades, conversion practices have been responsible for causing irreparable harm to LGBTQA+ people,” said Amnesty International on its campaign page. Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan had last year promised the LGBTQI community that if reelected his government would enact a law to ban conversion practices. Amnesty International Australia, SOGICE Survivors and Ending Conversion Practices WA said they have requested a meeting with the WA Premier, Health Minister, and Attorney General, to discuss the issue. The WA government proposed to ban so-called conversion therapy by introducing legislation for a national code of conduct for unregulated health workers last year.