BLAME, SHAME, AND MARGINALIZATION

The California legislature has just voted in favor of a resolution (ACR 99) blaming “religious groups” who hold to Biblical understandings of sex and gender as responsible for “disproportionately high rates” of suicide among homosexuals and transgenders. Their resolution reads:

·       “The stigma associated with being LGBTQ often created by groups in society, including therapists and religious groups, has caused disproportionately high rates of suicide, attempted suicide, depression, rejection, and isolation amongst LGBTQ and questioning individuals,” it claims. It calls on “the people of California – especially its counselors, pastors, religious workers, educators, and legislators” to eschew and work against anti-LGBTQ “stigma.” https://culturewarresource.com/newly-passed-california-resolution-blames-religious-groups-for-lgbt-suicides/

Where is California’s supportive evidence for its indictment against religion, namely Christianity? It seems instead that it is Christianity that is being stigmatized and hated. However, it seems that the same negative outcomes for LGBTs are present within even more gay-friendly nations like Sweden and Scotland, where the Christian faith only exerts a minimal influence:

·       Research out of LGBT-friendly Sweden has found that homosexual and transgender residents remain more likely to attempt or commit suicide, despite having achieved the type of culture advocated by ACR 99. (Ibid.)

·       The University of Cambridge’s Stonewall report found that 96% of trans students in Scotland attempted self-harm through actions such as cutting themselves, and 40% attempted suicide. 40% in the United States have attempted suicide, as well, according to a 2016 survey from the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). According to a 2011 study from Sweden, trans people remain 19 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population, even after “sex-change” surgery. (Ibid.)

However, the pro-LGBT lobby, which has militantly encouraged people to adopt the LGBT lifestyles, needs to blame someone apart from themselves for the dismal fate of the LGBTs. This lobby has succeeded in radically changing public and institutional opinion in favor of LGBTs. However, the death march continues unchecked.

Meanwhile, this lobby has stigmatized Christianity as “haters” and has converted Christians into the outcasts. However, they are not jumping off bridges, overdosing, or beating their sexual partners in greater numbers.

Instead, in compassion, we warn that these alternative lifestyles are disordered and oppose our God-given human nature and even God Himself. No wonder the horrific statistics! We also warn against pornography, incest, and adultery. Do these warnings make us “haters?” Hardly!

CONVERSION THERAPY: BANNED, BIASED OR ESSENTIAL

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York just announced a series of measures intended to eliminate so-called conversion therapy:

• Mr. Cuomo’s plan relies on economic incentives meant to discourage conversion therapy’s use on young people. Insurers in New York, for instance, will now be prohibited from covering the cost of such therapy for anyone under 18.

• That action… would prohibit the use of Medicaid to pay for conversion therapy. Centers overseen by the State Office of Mental Health would also be barred from providing conversion therapy to minors, according to the governor’s office.

How does Cuomo justify prohibiting the free choice of both parents and their children from seeking counseling for their unwanted same-sex attraction? Cuomo charges:

• “We will not allow the misguided and the intolerant to punish L.G.B.T. young people for simply being who they are,” 

Are the parents and their adolescent-teenage children “misguided?” Does Cuomo think he knows what is best for them? The horrific consequences for this lifestyle are undeniable – highly elevated levels of suicide, mental illness, depression, STDs, domestic violence, shortened life, and substance abuse. Could any therapy incur worse results!

Cuomo claims that those who administer such treatment are “intolerant to punish L.G.B.T. young people for simply being who they are.” But how does Cuomo know that they are “intolerant” rather than compassionate. He doesn’t. Instead, he has employed the carefully honed rhetoric of manipulation – tarring the opposition as “intolerant” or just haters.

Besides, are these youth really gay or are they simply going through a period of identity confusion? They is a lot of evidence that sexual attraction is quite fluid, rather than settled, at these ages. Why try to lock them into a lifestyle that dooms them to a life of self-destruction! It would seem that, in light of the horrific consequences, that almost anything should be tried to channel the youth into more a salutary lifestyle.

If there have been some therapeutic interventions that have been found to be unproductive or harmful, then make their failures known and explore or promote other more promising forms of therapy.

Instead, our pundits have condemned all forms of conversion therapy. It would be like condemning all forms of bipolar therapy because of the failure of one particular intervention. The fact that Cuomo wants to ban all forms of conversion therapy demonstrates, not a concern for the youth, but an entrenched political agenda. Instead, he should fund other more hopeful ways to address this horribly self-destructive lifestyle.

Cuomo’s sexually indulgent approach is also the approach of the Feds:

• Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, described its [conversion therapy] “potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer youth.”

Their approach is to damn anything that might have the promise of helping youth to avoid a life of despair.

Last year, the New York State Assembly labelled conversion therapy a form of “professional misconduct that could put medical licenses at risk.” But is it misconduct or is it professionally responsible to help youth overcome what they regard as a problem? There are many indications that such therapy can be effective:

• There are two major studies most often cited to support the potential benefits of reparation [conversion] therapy. One, originally published in book form in 2007, was conducted by Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse. A follow-up to the study, which appeared in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy in 2011, concluded not only that it was possible to change one’s homosexual orientation, but also that psychological harm was unlikely to result from the effort. (Salvo, Issue 22,34)

The Robert Spitzer study, published in 2003 in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, also offers promise:

• After studying efforts on 200 volunteers who had experienced predominantly homosexual attractions for many years before beginning therapy, Spitzer found that, for all subjects, “there was a marked reduction [of homosexual tendencies]…not only on the three measures of overt behavior and sexual orientation self-identification…but also on the seven variables assessing sexual orientation itself.” (34)

Had Cuomo and others, who want to ban all forms of supportive therapy for those who have chosen to resist same-sex attraction, merely publicized against those interventions associated with negative outcomes, they might be more credible. However, they are not taking the middle road. Nor are they asking for further research to identity interventions that offer the most promise. Instead, they seek to ban all forms of such therapy, thereby revealing their own intolerance and disregard for the struggles of these youth.