Posted on 04/08/2015 5:49:34 PM PDT by reaganaut1
WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old transgender youth, Leelah Alcorn, stunned her friends and a vast Internet audience in December when she threw herself in front of a tractor-trailer after writing in an online suicide note that religious therapists had tried to convert her back to being a boy.
In response, President Obama this week will call for an end to such psychiatric therapies aimed at “repairing” gay, lesbian and transgender youth, White House officials said. His decision on the sensitive issue is the latest example of his continuing embrace of gay rights.
In a statement to be posted on Wednesday evening alongside a WhiteHouse.gov petition begun in honor of Ms. Alcorn, Mr. Obama will condemn the psychiatric practice, sometimes called “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, which is supported by some socially conservative organizations and religious doctors. The petition has received more than 120,000 signatures in three months.
“We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer youth,” the statement, written by Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, says, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times. “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”
In an interview on Wednesday, Ms. Jarrett said Mr. Obama was moved by the story of Ms. Alcorn’s suicide. But she said the problem went far beyond her.
“It was tragic, but I will tell you, unfortunately she has a lot of company,” Ms. Jarrett said. “It’s not the story of one young person. It is the story of countless young people who have been subjected to this.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think you may have BUSTED the “transgendered” males cover!
I Support Conversion Therapy for All Democracks!
If a muslim cabbies refuses to take a person with a service dog, the left is fine with it.
Corporations and academia already engage in “conversion therapy”. It’s called political re-education, I mean diversity and ecology training.
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