By Melanie Nathan, May 19, 2015.
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released this statement today on the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, the first federal legislation proposed to ban the harmful, for-profit psychiatric therapies aimed at “converting” LGBT people, of which she is an original co-sponsor:
“Being LGBT is not an illness. It does not require a cure. So-called ‘conversion therapy’ is not medicine, it is not right, and it has no place in America. We cannot and will not allow conversion therapy peddlers to continue to profit from the abuse of LGBT children and adults.
“That’s why I’m proud to support Congressman Ted Lieu’s Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act to end this hurtful and hateful practice. Thanks to his leadership in the state legislature, California became the first state in the nation to ban conversion therapy. Now we must ensure this abuse has no safe haven anywhere.
“Ending conversion therapy is a vital step to ensuring that all families have the safety and security needed to keep improving and strengthening our country. As we answer President Obama’s call to end conversion therapy, we must all do our part to create a stronger, more just, and welcoming environment for all our families.”
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
From Nancy Pelosi ….. ““Being LGBT is not an illness. It does not require a cure. So-called ‘conversion therapy’ is not medicine, it is not right, and it has no place in America.” …. someone is seeing the light!!
I agree with Nancy Pelosi. A person’s sexual orientation -that is the gender one is sexually attracted to- cannot be changed. Straights cannot be turned into gays and gays cannot be turned into straights. Efforts to do so are not only quackery but also harmful. Children of homophobic parents forced to undergo such torture often end up as human wrecks. A gay person must live his or her life as a gay person. The alternative to live a lie and to deny one’s own being.
Amen, and about time. Whilst people certainly have the right to subjects themselves to quacks and witch doctors instead of trained physicians, they should certainly never be allowed to inflict them on their children.