Guest HeyGay Posted October 1, 2012 Posted October 1, 2012 The Americans of course :- California now the first state to ban 'gay cure' therapy on minors with new law Bill signed into law by California Gov Jerry Brown, making it the first state to uphold such a measure Controversial conversion therapy aims to change a subject's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to straight Gay rights advocates say the 'dehumanising' practice can lead to depression, substance abuse and suicide A bill banning the use of controversial therapy aimed at 'curing' homosexuality in gay teenagers has been stamped into law by California, making it the first state to outlaw the practice. Gov Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1172 yesterday, which prohibits doctors from performing any type of conversion therapy on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender minors. In a press release today, Clarissa Filgioun, board president of Equality California, said: 'Governor Brown today reaffirmed what medical and mental health organizations have made clear: Efforts to change minors' sexual orientation are not therapy, they are the relics of prejudice and abuse that have inflicted untold harm on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians.' Should we all give it a go or may be your happy this way, may be a lot happier than the so call straights out there? http://www.dailymail...ns-new-law.html Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted October 1, 2012 Posted October 1, 2012 The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy has also just confirmed that 'conversion therapy' is no longer ethical and that it agrees with the World Health Organisation which states such therapies can "cause severe harm to an individual's mental and physical health." Britain's biggest professional body for psychotherapists has instructed members that it is unethical for them to attempt to "convert" gay people to being heterosexual, formalising a policy change long demanded by rights groups. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy has written to its near-30,000 members to inform them of the new guidelines. The letter says the BACP "opposes any psychological treatment such as 'reparative' or 'conversion' therapy which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder, or based on the premise that the client/patient should change his/her sexuality". The body adds that it recognises World Health Organisation policy that says such therapies can cause severe harm to an individual's mental and physical health. The statement, drawn up by the board of governors, ends: "BACP believes that socially inclusive, non-judgmental attitudes to people who identify across the diverse range of human sexualities will have positive consequences for those individuals, as well as for the wider society in which they live. There is no scientific, rational or ethical reason to treat people who identify within a range of human sexualities any differently from those who identify solely as heterosexual." http://www.guardian....ients-unethical Quote
Rogie Posted October 1, 2012 Posted October 1, 2012 Here's a fascinating account of a screwball idea: Stephen Hough, writing in the Telegraph, says: I've just finished reading Neil Miller's excellent book 'Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to 1995', the year it was published. It is a witty and highly informative study, packed full of vignettes of social history. Each chapter concludes with some paragraphs from a source of the time ranging from newspaper clippings to writings of Walt Whitman, August Strindberg and Yukio Mishima. One of the most curious, macabre episodes described in the book concerns 1950s Canada, which, unlike today, was a place of severe anti-gay attitudes and laws. The 'Fruit Machine' was an experimental device created by the Security Panel of the Canadian government to detect whether civil servants were gay or not and, if they were, to give them the sack. The suspects would sit in a dentist's chair from where a sort of camera suspended from a pulley would attempt to register whether the pupils of their eyes would dilate as they were shown sexually explicit pictures. These pictures would be inserted in the midst of ordinary, daily scenes to catch out the viewer who was told that they were being assessed for stress-levels. The whole ridiculous project collapsed in the 1960s when word leaked out about its real intentions and when it became obvious that its accuracy levels were totally unreliable. The pupil size was too small for the camera to distinguish, there were lighting issues, and finally they ran out of funding. A pathetic episode of prejudice and ignorance. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100066715/curing-homosexuality-and-the-canadian-fruit-machine/ Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted October 2, 2012 Posted October 2, 2012 I had no idea Stephen Hough was a writer! He also happens to be one the the world's great classical pianists - and one of the very few who openly came out as gay from virtually the start of his career. There was a mini-scandal about five years ago when he was billed as presenting a recital in Hanoi which then had an occasional series of top international concerts thanks to major sponsorship from Hennessy. Some junior official had read a story about his being gay. Questions were asked further up the food chain. End result: to avoid potential embarrassment, Hennessy, to its great discredit, cancelled the event. The story made most of the world's major media and was an embarrassment for Vietnam. Yet, I wonder if that single event did as much as anything in helping change official Vietnam policy towards gays. Although Vietnam is traditionally a very conservative society, during August's First Gay Pride week-end Vietnam's Justice Minister even went as far as to suggest "it might be time to consider a change in the law to recognize same-sex marriage." http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-07-29/vietnam-gay-marriage/56573384/1 Quote
