NY’s Gov. Cuomo prepares to ban therapy for youth with unwanted same-sex attraction
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| English: Andrew Cuomo, 11th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and 64th New York State Attorney General as a candidate for Governor of New York, outside of City Hall, little American flags on his tie. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Insurance
coverage for reparative therapy for minors with unwanted same-sex sexual
attractions is about to become illegal in New York State.
However,
attempts to change gender are encouraged, according
to a press releasefrom
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said, "We will not allow the misguided and the
intolerant to punish LGBT young people for simply being who they are."
"Conversion
therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice that is counter to
everything this state stands for," continued New York's ostensibly
Catholic governor. "New York has been at the forefront of acceptance
and equality for the LGBT community for decades – and today we are continuing
that legacy and leading by example. We will not allow the misguided and the
intolerant to punish LGBT young people for simply being who they are."
Those
comments echo
Cuomo's words from two years ago, when he said pro-life and pro-marriage
advocates are "extreme" and "have no place in the state of New
York."
Cuomo's
regulations disallow coverage of reparative therapy by insurers and Medicaid.
Mental health facilities are likewise banned from treating minors with unwanted
same-sex sexual attractions.
Often
inaccurately derided as "conversion therapy" by the LGBT movement and
its allies, reparative therapy does not attempt to change teenagers, said
ex-gay activist and reparative therapy expert Christopher Doyle in a 2015
press statementresponding
to President Obama's support for bans on reparative therapy.
"Youth
that seek therapy for unwanted same-sex attractions or gender identity
conflicts believe there are specific causes for their attractions, such as
sexual abuse, and this therapy helps them resolve those causes and the desires
that are a consequence," said Doyle. "Counselors are not converting
gay youth – they're actually affirming their clients' desires to live a
heterosexual life. These laws would be a grave disservice to young people who
wish to access counseling from licensed mental health care providers. No
government intervention should seek to hinder this sincere desire for
help."
Cuomo's new
regulations will notably not restrict gender transition efforts, a fact
highlighted by this week's press announcement about reparative therapy.
"Conversion therapy does not include counseling or therapy for an
individual seeking to transition or transitioning from one gender to another
gender, that provides acceptance, support, and understanding of an individual
or the facilitation of an individual's coping, social support, and identity
exploration and development, including sexual orientation-neutral interventions
to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, provided
that the counseling or therapy does not seek to change sexual orientation or
gender identity."
New York is
not the only state where reparative therapy has been targeted. Several
states have made it illegal to help minors, and the
Jewish New Jersey-based counseling group JONAH was forced
to close in January after a lawsuit by the
anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center.
LGBT groups have
praised Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for backing a federal
ban on the practice.
