Posts

Showing posts with the label Oxford

So much for ‘choice’: California bans reparative therapy

Image
English: Jerry Brown's official picture as Attorney General and as Governor (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) October 10, 2012 ( Breakpoint.org ) - Recently, California governor Jerry Brown signed into law a ban on so-called “reparative therapy” for minors with same-sex attraction . In other words, counselors will not be permitted to help young people change their sexual orientation or behavior. Well, the law stinks on multiple levels. First, what if the minor wants to change, as many do? Doesn’t this violate the supposed liberal cardinal tenet of “choice”? And it’s a troubling precedent to nail an identity on an entire segment of the population with the stroke of a pen. Second, the law claims scientific consensus when there is none. Gov. Brown said the law would consign reparative therapies “to the dustbin of quackery,” banning “non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide.” But the governor failed to note the high rates of depression a