A year ago, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, pushed for county commissioners to take up the issue of banning “conversion therapy” for children, the controversial practice in which therapists attempt to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Palm Beach County had the opportunity to be the first county in Florida to ban conversion therapy for people under the age of 18. But thus far, the commission has dropped the ball on creating a county-side umbrella policy banning the measure outright, so HRC president Rand Hoch has decided to go door-to-door (or, rather, municipality-to-municipality) to get local leaders to do what the county has not accomplished the past 12 months.
The reason this is “big” news now is this past week, Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig cast the lone dissenting ballot during a preliminary reading of an ordinance that would ban conversion therapy within village boundaries. Several other municipalities in Palm Beach County have approved similar ordinances banning conversion therapy by medical professionals, but they were all unanimous votes.
According to the American Psychological Association, conversion therapy refers to psychotherapy aimed at eliminating homosexual desires and is used by people who do not think homosexuality is one variation within human sexual orientation, but rather still believe homosexuality is a mental disorder. The APA has concluded trying to change someone's sexual orientation can cause depression, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse.
When the APA published the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the “bible” used by mental health professionals to diagnose psychiatric disorders) in 1952, homosexuality was defined as a psychiatric disorder. Although there was no scientific evidence to support the diagnosis, it remained in the DSM until 1973.
California was the first state to outright ban conversion therapy in 2013. Conservative Christian legal organizations - representing individual parents, children and therapists - said the law violated therapists' free expression and parents' rights to make important medical decisions for their children. Since then, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. have passed laws banning licensed mental health providers from offering the practice to children.
Gerwig said she was bothered the ordinance would prohibit licensed professionals from practicing conversion therapy to minors, but not unlicensed youth counselors. Under current Florida law, this is accurate; although the Wellington ordinance would ban the practice by medical professionals, by state regulation it could not ban its use by religious and other non-professional groups.
The past two legislative sessions, State Sen. Jeff Clemens has introduced legislation to prohibit conversion therapy statewide. However, the Florida Senate refused to take action on the bills. Clemens intends to reintroduce the bill in the 2018 legislative session. I urge both the county and state to ban the practice completely.
No comments:
Post a Comment