As Mike Pence prepares to take office as Vice President, the LGBTQ+ community awaits the many difficulties he may pose for their fight for equality, especially considering his stance on conversion therapy for homosexuals. Despite United States Surgeon General David Satcher issuing a report in 2001 stating that there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be modified or changed with medical or psychological intervention, Mike Pence has involved himself in supporting efforts that seem to be linked to conversion, or “reparative,” therapy.
Fighting conversion therapy is nothing new to the LGBTQ+ community. Since the early Freudian period, many have attempted to change sexual orientations to fit hegemonic standards of the corresponding time periods. Some older techniques, many of which considered torturous in today’s society, include transplanting testicles from straight men into gay men, ice-pick lobotomies, chemical castration utilizing hormonal treatment, electroshock treatment, and masturbatory reconditioning. More recent clinical techniques employed include counseling, visualization, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy, and spiritual interventions that range from prayer and group support to applied pressure from members of religious hierarchies. Over the years there have been many organizations devoted to conversion therapies, many of them religiously affiliated (which helps them to escape the law in some instances). These are more commonly associated with the ex-gay movement, but are perhaps the more well-known organizations focusing on such causes. Such organizations include NARTH (National Associaton for Research and Therapy of Homoseuxals), JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality), Love in Action/Restoration Path, Joel 2:25 International for Catholic and Protestant Christians and OneByOne for Presbyterians, in addition many other religiously affiliated groups. Homosexuals Anonymous is modeled after the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program, and other ex-gay organizations include Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays. Only …show more content…
The Republican Party endorsed conversion therapy by stating that they supported the “right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.” Again, after facing criticism for this, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party and the incoming White House chief of staff, backpedaled on the statement and counter-stated that the language did not refer to conversion therapy. Notably, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ+ conservative group, stated that “the nod to conversion therapy was included at the urging of Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, which has been called an anti-L.G.B.T. extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.” He further clarified this by explaining that “there are only two types of therapies for minors that are notable and that are controversial at present. One is ex-gay conversion therapy and the other is transgender hormone therapy, and I hardly believe that Tony Perkins was putting a plank in the Republican Party platform endorsing the rights of parents to provide their children with transgender hormone therapy.”
Many LGBTQ+ citizens are concerned, perhaps rightfully so, about what the Trump-Pence era holds in store for the rights they have fought so hard to obtain. Questions ranging from “is this the end of same-sex marriage?” to “will I lose my Obamacare?” plague the thoughts of many in a time of confusion, anger, and in many cases, hopelessness. Luckily, it is unlikely that Trump and Pence will be able to undo any of the laws already set forth in regards to LGBTQ+ rights, but it is of no question that the battles that still need to be fought will be harder than they have ever
Fighting conversion therapy is nothing new to the LGBTQ+ community. Since the early Freudian period, many have attempted to change sexual orientations to fit hegemonic standards of the corresponding time periods. Some older techniques, many of which considered torturous in today’s society, include transplanting testicles from straight men into gay men, ice-pick lobotomies, chemical castration utilizing hormonal treatment, electroshock treatment, and masturbatory reconditioning. More recent clinical techniques employed include counseling, visualization, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy, and spiritual interventions that range from prayer and group support to applied pressure from members of religious hierarchies. Over the years there have been many organizations devoted to conversion therapies, many of them religiously affiliated (which helps them to escape the law in some instances). These are more commonly associated with the ex-gay movement, but are perhaps the more well-known organizations focusing on such causes. Such organizations include NARTH (National Associaton for Research and Therapy of Homoseuxals), JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality), Love in Action/Restoration Path, Joel 2:25 International for Catholic and Protestant Christians and OneByOne for Presbyterians, in addition many other religiously affiliated groups. Homosexuals Anonymous is modeled after the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program, and other ex-gay organizations include Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays. Only …show more content…
The Republican Party endorsed conversion therapy by stating that they supported the “right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.” Again, after facing criticism for this, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party and the incoming White House chief of staff, backpedaled on the statement and counter-stated that the language did not refer to conversion therapy. Notably, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ+ conservative group, stated that “the nod to conversion therapy was included at the urging of Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, which has been called an anti-L.G.B.T. extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.” He further clarified this by explaining that “there are only two types of therapies for minors that are notable and that are controversial at present. One is ex-gay conversion therapy and the other is transgender hormone therapy, and I hardly believe that Tony Perkins was putting a plank in the Republican Party platform endorsing the rights of parents to provide their children with transgender hormone therapy.”
Many LGBTQ+ citizens are concerned, perhaps rightfully so, about what the Trump-Pence era holds in store for the rights they have fought so hard to obtain. Questions ranging from “is this the end of same-sex marriage?” to “will I lose my Obamacare?” plague the thoughts of many in a time of confusion, anger, and in many cases, hopelessness. Luckily, it is unlikely that Trump and Pence will be able to undo any of the laws already set forth in regards to LGBTQ+ rights, but it is of no question that the battles that still need to be fought will be harder than they have ever