Joseph Farah devotes his Sept. 13 WorldNetDaily column to ranting about a proposed California law banning anti-gay “reparative” therapy for minors. After lamenting that “minor homosexuals who aren’t happy about their lifestyle” will no longer be able “to seek psychological help to change,” Farah serves up the most peculiar defense of “reparative” therapy:
Democrat State Sen. Ted Lieu explained that ex-gay therapy “really is junk science.”
Really?
It was only a generation ago that, under political pressure, the American Psychological Association changed its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness.“The entire house of medicine has rejected this phony and sham therapy,” said Lieu.
Yet, if that were true, there would be no need to ban its practice. If there weren’t a market for the therapy, why would legislation banning it be necessary? If there weren’t practitioners making a living serving those who willingly seek out such therapy, what would be the point of a prohibition?
Farah doesn’t say anything about ex-gay therapy being effective. And he certainly doesn’t mention that the founder of “reparative” therapy, Dr. Robert Spitzer, has recanted a study he conducted that claimed the therapy works.
Also: Lots of things are ineffective yet popular. Government tries to ban the harmful ones.
Which leads us to Farah getting flip about the demonstrated harmfulness of “reparative” therapy:
Lieu also says such therapy can cause guilt, shame and, in some cases, suicide. Really? So now anything that causes guilt or shame about one’s sexual practices should be outlawed? And isn’t it true that the suicide rate for open, practicing homosexuals is much higher than for the general population? I wonder what the suicide rate will be among those who want to leave the homosexual lifestyle but can’t get professional help to do so. Have Lieu and the Democrat-dominated California Legislature thought that one through? Or are some lives just more important than others?
Well, Farah certainly feels that the lives of homosexuals are less important than those of heterosexuals. Is that the way for a self-professed Christian to behave?
Notice that Farah can’t actually list any examples of people who have been harmed, let alone committed suicide, because they “want to leave the homosexual lifestyle but can’t get professional help to do so.” Meanwhile, the list of people psychologically damaged by “ex-gay therapy” is growing.
Finally, it’s funny that Farah thinks that “minor homosexuals who aren’t happy about their lifestyle” should be able to seek therapy on their own. After all, he presumably doesn’t approve of a pregnant teenage girl seeking an abortion without parental consent.