Last February an article appeared in this space that addressed efforts by the gay community in Louisville, Ky., to shut down a ministry whose mission was to assist people struggling with “unwanted same-sex attractions.” As I wrote at the time, the opposition made no sense since Abba’s Delight, as the ministry is called, was clear that it made no effort to proselytize homosexuals. Its founder, Daniel Mingo, was himself a “recovering” homosexual.
If any party in the story harbored a hidden agenda it was the gays, who were fiercely committed to preventing members of the flock from straying, even if that was their devoutest wish.
Now comes word that two states, Oregon and Colorado, have taken this position on “defection” to new and ridiculous extremes. Oregon’s House Bill 2307, if enacted, would prevent mental health professionals from engaging in efforts to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person under 18 years of age. Before you applaud the effort, saying that it prevents misguided parents from allowing their confused children to undergo sex change operations, it doesn’t. The bill doesn’t apply to “counseling that assists a client who is seeking to undergo a gender transition or who is in the process of undergoing a gender transition.”
Don’t make the mistake either of assuming the measure protects heterosexual children. It is explicit in its scope, which is to prevent health care professionals from changing “behaviors or expressions of self or to reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.”
Colorado House Bill 15-1175 is more straightforward in its language, stating in its opening paragraph:
The bill prohibits a licensed physician specializing in psychiatry and a licensed or registered mental health care provider from engaging in conversion therapy with a patient under 18 years of age. A licensee who engages in these efforts is subject to disciplinary action by the appropriate licensing board. “Conversion therapy” means efforts that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.
With the battle lines now drawn, expect more blue states to enact or seek to enact such “protections” for minors.
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