California recently became the first state in the union to ban what is commonly known as “gay therapy” for minors.
In an article on NBCnews.com discussing the new ban, Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights said, “Governor Brown has sent a powerful message of affirmation and support to LGBT youth and their families. This law will ensure that state-licensed therapists can no longer abuse their power to harm LGBT youth and propagate the dangerous and deadly lie that sexual orientation is an illness or disorder that can be ‘cured.’”
More people than not believe gay therapy to be not only ineffective but inherently wrong as well. Research shows that those who believe it to be a bad concept are right in thinking that.
Sarah McDonald, a freshman, refers to gay therapy clinics and their practices as “disgusting” and “a shame to the human species.”
Students around campus widely agree. There is no medical evidence proving that gay therapy works.
Geneticist Dean Hamer “published a study that claimed not only to have finally proved that male homosexuality was at least partially genetic but also to have pinpointed the stretch of chromosome where one of the genes involved resided.”
He traced the gene to the X-chromosome and even further to a string of genes called the Xq28. Other studies also show that the more sons a woman has (with the same partner) the more likely her later sons will identify as homosexual.
While this is not true in the case of female children, this occurrence in nature is more proof that being gay is not a choice and cannot just be changed through intense therapy.
Not only is homosexuality a nearly proven genetic occurrence, the effects of gay therapy are generally quite negative.
“It seems likely that the promotion of change therapies reinforces stereotypes and contributes to a negative climate for lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons. This appears to be especially likely for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals who grow up in more conservative religious settings. Same-gender sexual orientation cannot be assumed to represent a deficit in personality development or the expression of psychopathology,” the American Psychological Association said.
The University of Puget Sound is one of the only schools that has an LGBTQ-specific scholarship. This school, along with California’s recent ban, help show the world that homosexuality and bisexuality are not wrong and that being of those sexualities is not something that needs to be changed.
With modern medical, genetic and psychological research showing that it is not a choice or a mental disorder, we are slowly moving closer to social acceptance of race, gender, size, sexuality and belief.
