Some parental demands are commonplace and completely understandable. “Eat your broccoli. Do your homework.” Demands such as these help children develop strong bodies and minds.
Some parental influence is questionable such as pushing young boys and girls so hard in sports or other extracurricular activities that the child ends up hating the activity instead of embracing it.
Still other actions by parents so locked into certain aspirations for their children can, without intent, put a child’s welfare at stake.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear put an end to one of those actions on Sept. 18 when he signed an executive order officially banning the practice of conversion therapy on minors in the commonwealth.
Conversion therapy, by definition, is any emotional or physical therapy used to “cure” or “repair” a person’s attraction to the same sex, or their gender identity and expression. Providers claim these therapies can make someone heterosexual or straight.
Beshear signed the executive order because, “Kentucky cannot possibly reach its full potential unless it is free from discrimination by or against any citizen – unless all our people feel welcome in our spaces, free from unjust barriers and supported to be themselves.” Beshear went on to say, “Conversion therapy has no basis in medicine or science, and it can cause significant long-term harm to our kids…” The Democratic governor’s executive order has already drawn heavy criticism from religious organizations and some legislators from the Republican party.
We applaud Beshear’s courage in doing what he claims is all about, “protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.”
Conversion therapy rests on the premise that an LGBTQ+ individual’s identity is pathological and can be repaired or fixed.
According to such organizations as the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association, the practice of conversion therapy can cause significant long-term harm to youth, including anxiety, depression, loss of social supports and suicidal behaviors. The leading medical and mental health organizations in the U.S. oppose conversion therapy, including the American Psychological Association and the American Counseling Association.
Kentucky joins 26 states and the District of Columbia in prohibiting the use of conversion therapy with minors in some way, either through barring its agencies from spending state and federal dollars for conversion therapy with minors or by making engaging in conversion therapy a prohibited act or unprofessional conduct for licensed practitioners and subjecting them to disciplinary action for violating the prohibition.
Indiana should join Kentucky and others by making conversion therapy illegal.
Banning conversion therapy would not be an issue of faith. It would simply be an act of protecting the well-being of Hoosier children.
A ban should not prohibit parents from seeking counseling to assist their kids in working through physical, mental and emotional changes in their bodies. It should not prohibit families from talking with clergy on issue of faith and family values.
A ban on conversion therapy should, however, stop anyone from using emotional or physical therapy to “cure” or “repair” a person’s attraction to the same sex, or their gender identity and expression. And, it should discipline any providers who pursue the practice despite advice to the contrary from reputable industry professionals.
Our children are already facing more challenges than we can count. Heaping more anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts on them is simply inhumane.
© 2024 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.