The following comes from a May 15 LifeSiteNews article by Dustin Siggins:
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-CA, is expanding her fight against reparative therapy, a form of therapy that seeks to help men and women with unwanted same-sex attraction.
At the same time, former patients, medical professionals and advocates of the therapy are striving to counter what they say is a campaign of misinformation aimed at taking away their freedoms.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Speier demanded that the agency investigate “the claims and advertising practices of therapists who perform conversion therapy, in order to identify those that are making dangerous, scientifically invalid claims.”
She also demanded that the commission “properly assess the practice of conversion therapy as ‘unfair or deceptive.’”
Licensed clinical counselor Christopher Doyle said in a statement that the term “conversion therapy” is inaccurate.
“Youth that seek therapy for unwanted same-sex attractions or gender identity conflicts believe there are specific causes for their attractions, such as sexual abuse, and this therapy helps them resolve those causes and the desires that are a consequence,” said Doyle.
“Any society that grants the right to an adolescent to decide to terminate a pregnancy cannot rationally suggest that this same adolescent should not have the right to freely participate in conversational counseling to discuss sexuality,” said Pruden.
I believe Pruden is spot on when he says:
“Any society that grants the right to an adolescent to decide to terminate a pregnancy cannot rationally suggest that this same adolescent should not have the right to freely participate in conversational counseling to discuss sexuality,”
The statement lacks foundation because adolescent legal discretion to abort is not rational in the first place. So all the statement does is re-affirm the defective initial premise, which is exactly something that should not be done. Anyway, pointing out the hypocrisy of the left is an endless exercise and rarely accomplishes anything.
It looks like Ms. Speier is deathly afraid of something. When I first learned of this research in the late 80s, I thought that gay people would embrace this hope. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that they not only had no interest in it, but they actually attacked it.
Now we have gay dogma versus science. And a politician who is afraid of what this means.
Science? Science says this type of therapy is garbage. It is demeaning, demoralizing, and outright child abuse. Homosexuals don’t need a “cure”.
“Any society that grants the right to an adolescent to decide to terminate a pregnancy cannot rationally suggest that this same adolescent should not have the right to freely participate in conversational counseling to discuss sexuality,”
I agree 100%, but this type of counseling is not simply about discussing sexuality – understanding it and accepting – embracing – what cannot be changed. It is based on the false and damaging notion that such therapy can change a person’s sexuality. That is a lie. No respectable clinician would ever suggest it. There are many charlatans out there eager to push this with a religious bent. Dogma indeed. There is no such thing as an “ex-gay”. That is why it needs to be banned. There is nothing more damaging to the spirit than false hope.
peter, why are you so against the ‘free will’ therapy of those who seek it out and desire it ?
Why do you want to FORCE your homosexual beliefs on EVERYONE else ? No one is making you go to a therapist.
Who appointed you to be each individual’s judge and jury ?
Who are you to judge whether someone wants to be chaste or not?
Who are you to personally decide exactly which Doctors in the entire State of CA, or the USA are good or bad therapists ?
Or good or bad in any other medical field ?
Peter,
You’ve made proud boasts that are not substantiated. I challenge you to read the theories about homosexual attraction, speak with therapists who specialize in this field, and talk with those who have been healed. At the very least, they make a compelling case.
You’re correct that sexual orientation can’t be changed. However, sexuality can become warped and deviated due to a number of different mechanisms. Reparative therapy seeks to alleviate or mitigate those issues and to return a person to their natural, heterosexual state. One thing that proves that gay propaganda is false is that it doesn’t account for the varied ways how sexual attraction, especially homosexual attraction, can occur.
Speier is a complete and utter joke – a brain bruised feminazi and pseudo ‘Catholic’ (and alumnus of Mercy High Burlingame). She infamously advocated Federal abortion funding on the House floor by touting herself as qualified on the topic because of her own D&E abortion. That stunt generated a lot of publicity for her ‘courage’ until her own spokespeople came out and said, uh, she didn’t actually have an abortion, rather it was a miscarriage. Oh well. BTW, “Jacqueline” is the name she took for her Confirmation name so she could style herself after J. Kennedy-Onassis. Her birth name is actually Karen.
The Gaystapo is like the Mafia – Once In, Never Out. Ahem.
Although there are indeed quacks and snake oil sellers in this as well as many other fields (selling everything from ‘age defying’ nutrition supplements to super powers in a bottle) – there are Some who are not only Sincere, but also Capable and sometimes Successful.
It is the latter that the likes of Spier want to Destroy – as the Anti-Scientific gibberish of the Gaystapo says that Gender (Only Two, XX=Female & XY=Male; genetic / gestational birth defects notwithstanding) is completely mutable (and physical mutilation is a ‘cure’) – but the Choice to Act Out Behaviors is Impossible to Change or Modify, provided they are politically correct behaviors of course.
Jackie is my ‘representative’ in Congress, I am sad to say.
She has so much potential, but she needs to get back on the road of the Catholic Church’s teachings!!!
Pray for her!!!
Speier should “get back” to Church teachings? Are you kidding? When has she EVER been consistent with Church teachings???
-100% voting approval rating from Planned Parenthood
-100% voting approval rating from NARAL
-100% voting approval rating from Human Rights Campaign (largest gay activist organization in the U.S.)
– Opposed Proposition 8
-Admitted to marrying gay and lesbian couples herself
-Opposed Komen Foundation for withdrawing Planned Parenthood funding
-Opposed the Catholic Bishops over the HHS mandate
-Advocates federal funding of abortion
-Calls herself a devout Catholic so she can mislead naïve people for votes.
She appears to support the California End of Life Option Act —-> euthanasia.
She is listed as an “Honorary Coauthor” here:
https://www.davisvanguard.org/2015/03/senator-feinstein-endorses-california-end-of-life-option-act/
ALL those with the unwanted temptation of SSA (Same Sex Attraction) should be able to get therapy if so desired.
The Government has got to stop trying to CONTROL every aspect of the lives of all its citizens.
I think it would be uncharitable to mention Kool Aid. But I’m old enough to remember.
I might surprise some with this but I do agree somewhat that this therapy can be damaging. It’s only damaging because same-sex attraction is such a bird’s nest of confusion. Healing takes time. People for good and understandable reasons want out of the “gay” world. They are way too willing to declare themselves cured once and for all though. The reason that this kind of therapy is tricky is not because homosexuality is good but rather because it’s so tricky and because the acts involved – particularly anal sex – brings total shame and condemnation. I was lucky. I never wanted or did anal sex. Ever. That’s a big reason I could escape. You want to end the reign of homosexual perversion? Make better dads. It starts and ends…