They were so, so very close…

23/1/20 butcherbakertoiletrymaker 14

Utah, of all places, just banned* the practice of “gay conversion therapy”. “Sounds great!” you say, “but why the asterisk?” Because there are some important exceptions that were written into the new rule, namely, according to the article: “The ban doesn’t apply to clergy, religious counselors, parents or grandparents, so long as they’re not acting as psychologists. “

Which, you know, means that this is primarily a PR stunt. The homophobes in Utah can continue traumatizing LGBTQ people–particularly kids–because they have been given the fig leaf, if you’ll excuse the reference, that the charlatans that are doing the traumatizing aren’t “acting as psychologists.” If there is actually an appreciable decline in the active use of this practice I’ll eat my hat.

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/22/798603313/utah-becomes-latest-state-to-ban-discredited-lgbtq-conversion-therapy

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About butcherbakertoiletrymaker 599 Articles
When you can walk its length, and leave no trace, you will have learned.

14 Comments

  1. The fact that this is still something that exists is proof that the education system in the US needs a massive overhaul and a serious financial shot in the arm. Only then will we be able to finally discard religion being the primary motivator of legislation.

    Then again, up here in Canada we have people running for the Conservative Party leadership race that want to reopen the abortion debate, and regional elections are giving wins to homeschooled fundamentalists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Oosterhoff

    Our sandbox has a lot of turds in it too.

    • Evangelicalism is a scourge that needs to be eradicated. They are currently trying to turn America into a theocracy and don’t even see the irony in it.

  3. I had an employee whose mother demanded he go through conversion therapy. He was a young adult but she was manipulative and emotionally abusive. He confided in me about the therapy, I told him I was available whenever he needed. One night he called me at 2am to tell me he wouldn’t be in to work in the morning because he was going to commit suicide. I stayed on the phone with him for the rest of the night while he described the ugly, horrible things his ex marine, Catholic therapist said to him. He’d come to the conclusion that since he couldn’t stop being gay he didn’t deserve to live. It was one of the most heartbreaking conversations I ever had. I convinced him to check himself into the hospital for a 72 hour psych evaluation instead of killing himself. When the psychiatrist heard his story he went OFF on the mother, told her there was nothing wrong with her son and that she was the one who needed therapy. He moved out as soon as he was released. She came to our work and accused me of interfering. I repeated most of what the psychiatrist said and told her to get the fuck out. It was very satisfying.

    • You saved that man’s life, and I am glad that you held your ground. I have known someone who would still be with their family if they had someone in their life while they were going through that sort of crisis.

      • I don’t think it was me as much as the psychiatrist. He was amazing! I wasn’t sure getting him to admit himself was a good idea, it could have gone a different direction. But it had the best possible outcome. For which I was very grateful.

    • I don’t understand how a parent could do that to a child; but I am so, so thankful you were able to keep him talking, and get him to someone who could help.

      Parents like that shouldn’t be parents.

        • Hell, I can’t remember the state (wanna say Alabama or one of the Carolina’s because of course) but one of the repubs running for the house in 2018 (he lost, thank god) literally said he would drown his kids if they were gay while on air.

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