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| Thank you, Obama, for condemning ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBT teens | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Barack Obama has called for an end to so-called “conversion therapy” for gay and transgender young people. Good. It’s about time this hideous brainwashing was washed away for good. If you’ve never heard of conversion, or “reparative” therapy, it’s when quack doctors try to “cure” people of their gayness, or transness, depending on what particular “affliction” the “patient” happens to have been cursed with. | Barack Obama has called for an end to so-called “conversion therapy” for gay and transgender young people. Good. It’s about time this hideous brainwashing was washed away for good. If you’ve never heard of conversion, or “reparative” therapy, it’s when quack doctors try to “cure” people of their gayness, or transness, depending on what particular “affliction” the “patient” happens to have been cursed with. |
| The White House now shares the trans, gay and medical communities’ concerns about conversion therapy’s “potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer youth”. A statement reads: “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.” Although Obama will not explicitly call for a federal law banning the practice, he will support efforts to stop the “therapy” being offered at state level. If he succeeds, it will be a legacy of which he can feel truly proud. | |
| But hang on, you might say, what is wrong with people accessing therapy to stop them from being gay? To that I would reply: it doesn’t work. And not only does it not work, it has been shown to cause serious harm to people’s mental health, which is why the practice is condemned by every reputable medical institution and psychiatric body in the world. Quite simply, telling people they can “pray away the gay” is both pointless and dangerous. | |
| Taking advantage of vulnerable and confused adults is one thing, but matters become even more sinister when doctors offer to convert children and teenagers. This week there has been much false controversy around parents who support their children to change gender following Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary Transgender Kids. This reflects a tendency among some in the media to ignore research, medical experts and, um, actual trans people. Journalist and Guardian contributor Julie Bindel rejects the hormone-blocking treatment that supportive parents want for their trans kids. She once told me in an interview: “Preventing puberty … rather than looking at the societal pressure on children to live in very very constrained gender norms is a form of child abuse.” | Taking advantage of vulnerable and confused adults is one thing, but matters become even more sinister when doctors offer to convert children and teenagers. This week there has been much false controversy around parents who support their children to change gender following Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary Transgender Kids. This reflects a tendency among some in the media to ignore research, medical experts and, um, actual trans people. Journalist and Guardian contributor Julie Bindel rejects the hormone-blocking treatment that supportive parents want for their trans kids. She once told me in an interview: “Preventing puberty … rather than looking at the societal pressure on children to live in very very constrained gender norms is a form of child abuse.” |
| In a similar vein, the Spiked editor Brendan O’Neill says that trans activists are “effectively experimenting on children,” despite the wealth of research emerging that supporting trans kids to be themselves leads to better mental health outcomes. Writing in the Mirror today, Carole “I’m not expert but” Malone asks how any four- or five-year-old could possibly know if they wanted to change gender. I’d love to know just what makes Carole think she knows better than they do. | In a similar vein, the Spiked editor Brendan O’Neill says that trans activists are “effectively experimenting on children,” despite the wealth of research emerging that supporting trans kids to be themselves leads to better mental health outcomes. Writing in the Mirror today, Carole “I’m not expert but” Malone asks how any four- or five-year-old could possibly know if they wanted to change gender. I’d love to know just what makes Carole think she knows better than they do. |
| I’m sick of hearing what people who are not trans have to say about trans people’s lives, so let me, a trans woman, tell you something I know for sure: there is only one responsible thing any loving parent can do if their child confides in them that they are gay or trans – and that is to offer unconditional support. Nothing will stop a child being trans. Nothing. I spent the first 20 years of my life battling the most intense social pressure imaginable to be someone I was not. I was told I could not be a girl. I was told it was a phase. I was told that I was too young to know what I wanted, that I would grow out of it, that it just wasn’t an option. Thankfully my parents never took me to see a conversion quack, but the idea that I might grow out of it still stopped them from getting me the proper support I needed. I had to go through years of bullying and an entirely unwanted and entirely unnecessary male puberty before I could finally take control of my own life and be who I’d known I was since the age of four. What an absolute waste of time. | I’m sick of hearing what people who are not trans have to say about trans people’s lives, so let me, a trans woman, tell you something I know for sure: there is only one responsible thing any loving parent can do if their child confides in them that they are gay or trans – and that is to offer unconditional support. Nothing will stop a child being trans. Nothing. I spent the first 20 years of my life battling the most intense social pressure imaginable to be someone I was not. I was told I could not be a girl. I was told it was a phase. I was told that I was too young to know what I wanted, that I would grow out of it, that it just wasn’t an option. Thankfully my parents never took me to see a conversion quack, but the idea that I might grow out of it still stopped them from getting me the proper support I needed. I had to go through years of bullying and an entirely unwanted and entirely unnecessary male puberty before I could finally take control of my own life and be who I’d known I was since the age of four. What an absolute waste of time. |
| I was lucky. Leelah Alcorn was isolated from her friend and neighbours and forced to see religious quacks who promised to “help” her, against her wishes. Her own family did this to her. Then she walked in front of a tractor and killed herself. She was 17. | I was lucky. Leelah Alcorn was isolated from her friend and neighbours and forced to see religious quacks who promised to “help” her, against her wishes. Her own family did this to her. Then she walked in front of a tractor and killed herself. She was 17. |
| As Valerie Jarrett, the adviser who drafted the statement, told the New York Times: “It was tragic, but I will tell you, unfortunately, [Leelah] has a lot of company … It’s not the story of one young person. It is the story of countless young people who have been subjected to this.” Indeed. How many more suicides have there been of trans youth that we don’t even know about? We wouldn’t have known about Leelah had it not been for the suicide note she left on social media going viral in the days following her death. | As Valerie Jarrett, the adviser who drafted the statement, told the New York Times: “It was tragic, but I will tell you, unfortunately, [Leelah] has a lot of company … It’s not the story of one young person. It is the story of countless young people who have been subjected to this.” Indeed. How many more suicides have there been of trans youth that we don’t even know about? We wouldn’t have known about Leelah had it not been for the suicide note she left on social media going viral in the days following her death. |
| So thank you, President Obama. These aren’t words I use often, but I can only describe “conversion therapy” as pure and utter evil, and your condemnation of it will surely save many lives. Leelah Alcorn and teenagers like her never needed to be “fixed”, if anything, as her suicide note rightfully pointed out, it’s society that needs fixing. Obama has brought us one step closer to achieving that, but what a massive shame it took the lost lives of those vibrant young people to get us here. | So thank you, President Obama. These aren’t words I use often, but I can only describe “conversion therapy” as pure and utter evil, and your condemnation of it will surely save many lives. Leelah Alcorn and teenagers like her never needed to be “fixed”, if anything, as her suicide note rightfully pointed out, it’s society that needs fixing. Obama has brought us one step closer to achieving that, but what a massive shame it took the lost lives of those vibrant young people to get us here. |