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Here’s the thing though: whatever your beliefs are about sexual orientation, it’s wrong to coerce a young person into becoming someone they’re not sure they want to be. You wouldn’t let your eight-year-old daughter get a boob job, right? You’d want to make sure she was old enough to understand her decision first. You would want her to know that she shouldn’t be so concerned with her body image because it is beautiful just the way it is. But if, maybe, when she got older she still felt the same way you would support her decision because you want her to be happy more than anything.
Well, it’s the same logic. Convincing a young person that they need to change drastically can be emotionally damaging. Most teens want to be accepted, respected, and understood. If you start chipping away at a young person’s self-esteem it becomes really hard to recover.
According to California governor Jerry Brown, “This bill bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.”
These programs pretend they have young peoples’ best interest in mind when really they’re only interested in shaming them for their feelings—feelings that these teens probably find confusing and just want some help dealing with. The problem still is that many of these places are where homophobes, not professional therapists, use bullying tactics to convince members of the LGBT community that who they are is morally wrong and deluding them into thinking they can change. And the law only forbids licensed therapists from trying to conduct “gay repair.” Still, it’s a step in the right direction, and this is a huge win for the LGBT community! YAY!
What do you think about “gay repair” therapy? Let us know in the comments!
