National Workgroup to Address the Needs of Children and Youth Who Are LGBTQI2-S

National Workgroup to Address the Needs of Children and Youth Who Are LGBTQI2-S and Their Families ~Affirming LGBTQI2-S youth and families through full inclusion~

Biweekly Update, June 27, 2014 RESOURCE UPDATE OF LGBT TOPIC PAGE ON FINDYOUTHINFO.GOV Supported by the American Institutes for Research, FindYouthInfo.gov has just released a comprehensive update to the LGBT youth topic page. This U.S. government website helps to create, maintain, and strengthen effective youth programs. Included are youth facts, funding information, and tools to help you assess community assets, generate maps of local and federal resources, search for evidence-based youth programs, and keep up-to-date on the latest, youth-related news. NEWS Supreme Court Ruling on Reparative Therapy The U.S. Supreme Court of declined to review a 2013 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upholding California’s Senate Bill 1172, a law that prohibits licensed counselors and therapists from engaging in dangerous practices to try to change the sexual orientation or gender expression of LGBT children. As this Equality California article notes, numerous medical and mental health organizations have condemned reparative therapy because it is known to lead to depression and suicide. YOUTH  STORY Web Article: Choosing Who I Let In: I found Family in My Group Home This article from Represent: The Voice of Youth in Care tells the story of an LGBT young person’s experience with the child welfare system and coming out in it.  Workgroup Chair, Captain Andrew Hunt, M.S.W., Public Health Advisor, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services, Child, Adolescent and Family Branch, andrew.hunt@samhsa.hhs.gov  Workgroup Coordinator, Jeffrey Poirier, Ph.D., Principal Researcher, American Institutes for Research, jpoirier@air.org

State bans "gay-repair" therapy for minors

Brown signs bill to bar controversial treatment

By Wyatt Buchanan Updated 11:07 p.m., Saturday, September 29, 2012 Posted at: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/State-bans-gay-repair-therapy-for-minors-3906032.php#ixzz28FmTabjChttp://www.sfgate.com/news/article/State-bans-gay-repair-therapy-for-minors-3906032.php

California has become the first state in the country to ban controversial therapy practices that attempt to change the sexual orientation of minors after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to outlaw them Saturday.

The bill, SB1172 by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County), bars mental health practitioners from performing so-called reparative therapy, which professional psychological organizations have said may cause harm. Gay rights groups have labeled them dangerous and abusive.

"This bill bans non-scientific 'therapies' that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery," Brown said in a statement to The Chronicle.

Brown approved the ban after the public release of two other lists of bills signed and vetoed earlier Saturday. Lieu's bill is expected to appear on a new list to be released Sunday.

The signing came as Brown nears his Sunday night deadline to consider legislation on his desk.

Fierce lobbying

National gay rights organizations had been lobbying the governor intensely to sign the therapy ban. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights organization, sent Brown a petition with nearly 50,000 signatures urging him to approve the measure.
"LGBT youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being. We commend Gov. Brown for putting children first, and call on all states to take California's lead on this issue," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

Penalty for therapists

Under the new law, which will take effect Jan. 1, no mental health provider will be able to provide therapy that seeks "to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex."
Mental health professionals who violate the law, which applies to therapy for patients younger than 18, will be subject to discipline by whatever group licenses them.
The therapy often starts from the premise that a person's childhood and parental upbringing has somehow left that person deficient and thus has led him or her to same-sex attractions. Practitioners often are religious, and gay rights groups have derisively characterized the therapy as an attempt to "pray away the gay."

 

Reposted at http://www.keystothecloset.blogspot.com

We Non't Need fixed-Cast Your Vote Against "Reparative Therapy"

Electroshock therapy. Aversive conditioning using maggots. Induced vomiting.

These "treatments" may sound like a throwback to the dark ages. But according to a Task Force report, "Youth in the Crosshairs," these are just some of methods still used by hateful groups who believe these types of "reparative therapy" can "fix" homosexuality. The worst part? It's not uncommon for kids and teenagers to be forced into "reparative therapy" against their will, despite mountains of research showing that not only will it never work, it's harmful. Learn more about the history of this so-called therapy with our interactive timeline.

These groups need to hear the truth — LGBT people aren't broken, and we don't need to be fixed.

There are plenty of other things in the country that do need to be fixed — like, let's see, Washington? If you haven't voted yet for the things you think really need to be fixed do it today! We'll include your message in a letter to these frightening "reparative therapy" types, telling them to take their repair kits elsewhere.

It's been many years since the Task Force fought to change the American Psychiatric Association's classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder. We won that fight, but groups like Focus on the Family and Exodus International continue to use "reparative therapy" to "prevent" homosexuality in young children and "convert" LGBT people into heterosexuals.

In fact, in just a few weeks, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality will hold its convention in Arizona, with workshops covering topics like "treatment of unwanted same-sex attraction and behaviors" and "psychoanalytic theories of heterosexual and homosexual development" in an attempt to make their efforts to "fix" LGBT people sound like real science. Of course, it's not. It's all sheer nonsense. Sheer, harmful nonsense.

Research conducted by the Task Force and countless other independent studies prove that "reparative therapy" leads to depression, isolation, low self-esteem and even attempted suicide. But these groups are more concerned with their anti-LGBT agenda (and making money selling their snake oil) than the facts.

They need to hear it loud and clear: We don't need to be fixed.

Haven't cast your vote for what really needs fixing? Do it today and we'll include your votes and messages in hand-delivered letters to groups like Exodus International, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America and Americans for the Truth about Homosexuality.

Vote by Halloween — that's when the Task Force will be tallying the totals and sending a strong message to these groups. Why Halloween?

Because "reparative therapy" isn't just ineffective; it's downright scary.
Thanks for your support.

Sincerely,

Rea Carey, Executive Director, posted by National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Reposted at http://keystothecloset.blogspot.com,