'Gender therapy' bans violate rights

Tom Shaheen (PA Family Institute) and Curtis Schube (Independence Law Center) recently wrote a piece that appeared in the Tribune-Review on the problems with bans on so-called "conversion therapy":

"Suppose a counselor is working with a child who has expressed unwanted gender confusion. If the counselor were to say, "You just need to accept that your gender is different than your biological sex," that therapist would be doing a disservice by refusing to help that child meet goals. But, if the counselor were to affirm the reality of the child's actual biological sex, consistent with the child's goals, the therapist could be charged with a violation.

It's standard practice for counselors to engage in talk therapy. Aversive or abusive treatments are already rejected by those who offer counseling to same-sex attracted patients. Physical abuse in the course of therapy is unethical and illegal , and there is no evidence that such abuse is occurring in Pennsylvania . So, the only result of these bans would be to punish the protected speech of counselors and to prevent clients from achieving their counseling goals."

Is Governor Wolf Threatening Counselors in PA?

Recently, Governor Tom Wolf held a Q&A session on Instagram where he covered a variety of topics, including this question: Do you have any plans to push for legislation to criminalize conversion therapy?

Here's his response:

"I strong oppose conversion therapy. We ought to make it illegal in Pennsylvania and I would support efforts to do that. We also in Pennsylvania need nondiscrimination legislation."

Making "conversion therapy" illegal threatens counselors with loss of business licensure or fines for not affirming the desirability of same-sex attraction, even if the client wants to reduce or eliminate such attraction, or not act on those desires. These bans are something we will continue to monitor and oppose here in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Wolf also continues to push nondiscrimination legislation, or SOGI, that would threaten your religious freedoms and bodily privacy. For more on these types of laws, read Ryan T. Anderson's latest analysis.