President
Barack Obama has called for an end to psychiatric therapy treatments seeking to
change the sexual orientation or gender identity of gay, lesbian and
transgender youth. It comes in response to a petition.
Deutsche Welle, 9 April 2015
The White
House statement is in response to a petition calling for Obama to back a law to
ban conversion therapy. The practice is supported by some socially conservative
organizations and religious doctors.
The
petition was started following the suicide in December of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn (photo). She died after her parents forced her to attend conversion
therapy, took her out of school and isolated her in an attempt to change her
gender identity.
"The
overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy,
especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor
ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm," the author of the
White House statement, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said.
Mara
Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender
Equality, welcomed the White House statement. "Having President Obama and
the weight of the White House behind efforts to ban conversion therapy is so
critical in the fight for transgender and LGB young people," Keisling said
in a statement.
Jarrett
told the petition's promoters they agreed with the effects of therapy
treatment: "We share your concern about its potentially devastating
effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer
youth."
The White
House did not explicitly call for congressional legislation to ban the
therapies nationwide. But Jarrett's statement highlighted 18 states which have
introduced legislation similar to measures already in place in California, New
Jersey and Washington, DC which ban licensed professionals from using
conversion therapy on minors.
jm/rc (Reuters, AP)
Related Articles:
'Praying the gay away': Trauma survivors crusade to ban conversion therapy - New
China court raps clinic over 'gay conversion' therapy
'Praying the gay away': Trauma survivors crusade to ban conversion therapy - New
China court raps clinic over 'gay conversion' therapy
(Photo: Alexandria) |
"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
“… Gender Switching
Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."
It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”
It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”
No comments:
Post a Comment