GALEN ETTLIN (HOST): Three New England states are considering bans on conversion therapy of minors who identify as LGBTQ. New York state, New Hampshire, and Maine are all considering similar bills. Vermont, for perspective, banned conversion therapy a couple years ago and is one of 10 states nationwide with a ban.
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For some background for people at home who maybe are not familiar, what exactly is conversion therapy, and why is this movement to the LGBTQ community?
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KEITH GOSLANT (LGBTQIA ALLIANCE OF VERMONT): Conversion therapy is based on the false premise that there’s something broken and that needs to be fixed and that by using a series of aversion interventions, that you could change your sexual orientation or gender identity.
Most of the major medical, psychiatric, social work organizations have discredited it and said that actually it’s very dangerous. If you’re an LGBTQ youth, you are already dealing with issues of low self-esteem. You’re looking for acceptance. You’re looking for support. This gives the false premise that there’s truly something wrong with you and then when it doesn’t work, because it doesn’t, you’re left with an even stronger feeling of, “There’s something wrong. I am inherently bad.” And that’s not a premise that we want to support.
Actually, what was interesting with Vermont’s legislation, the preamble to it, identifies that LGBTQ sexual orientation and gender identity is part of the full spectrum of beings. It is not a disease. It is not something that needs to be fixed. It is something that needs to be supported and fully realized.
