We may be about to learn part of the price Donald Trump paid for getting the support of the religious right after his hostile takeover of the Republican Party. Thanks to the handiwork of a veteran culture warrior, the GOP is about to give formal sanction to the utterly discredited and fraudulent practice of conversion therapy–better known as “pray away the gay.”
On a motion from Family Research Council president Tony Perkins–who is a Republican convention delegate from his home state of Louisiana–the Republican platform committee added a plank on conversion therapy to the GOP platform. Zeke Miller of Time provided the full language, which will be formally adopted at the full convention.
Language: "We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy, for their minor children."
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 11, 2016
It was already no secret that fundies were going to leave their stamp on the platform. Perkins isn’t the only high-profile fundie on the committee. As People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch reports, the platform committee leadership is a virtual who’s who of culture warriors. David Barton, the religious right’s favorite pseudo-historian, is a member. So is Cynthia Dunbar, a former Texas Board of Education member who openly called for a fundie takeover of public schools.
But I don’t think anyone expected the GOP to endorse “therapy” that has been rejected as quackery by nearly every legitimate medical association in this country. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s let some of these organizations tell you.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics: “Therapy directed specifically at changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.”
- The American Counseling Association: “[T]he ACA Ethics Committee strongly suggests that ethical professional counselors do not refer clients to someone who engages in conversion therapy or, if they do so, to proceed cautiously only when they are certain that the referral counselor fully informs clients of the unproven nature of the treatment and the potential risks and takes steps to minimize harm to clients.”
- The American Medical Association: “Our AMA… opposes, the use of ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy that is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientation.
Additionally, six states have banned the use of conversion therapy on minors. In one of those states, New Jersey, a jury found that conversion therapy violates the state’s consumer fraud law.
Perkins defended his proposal on CNN, saying that he was concerned about states “trying to restrict what parents can do for loving their children.” Whose word are we supposed to take, Tony? Yours, or those of medical professionals?
This plank was one of a number of monstrously homophobic planks adopted by the committee, including calls for marriage equality to be reversed either by the courts or constitutional amendment. It was particularly painful to watch for Rachel Hoff of the District of Columbia, the first openly lesbian member of the platform committee. In an emotional speech, she pushed for a plank stripping away the homophobic language.
Predictably, Hoff’s proposal was voted down–but Hoff was able to get the committee members to go on record opposing it. Planks are usually adopted by voice vote, but Hoff was able to get a recorded vote.
If you’re an LGBT Republican or someone with an LGBTQ child or teen, take note. The Republican Party has officially given you and/or your kids the finger.
