FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO — Truth Wins Out today praised Minnesota State Representative Karen Clark, who plans to introduce a bill banning harmful “ex-gay” therapy during the upcoming legislative session. The bill would follow in the footsteps of California and New Jersey, which recently passed bills banning “ex-gay” therapy for minors. Reports state that a companion bill will likely be introduced in the state Senate by openly gay Senator Scott Dibble.
“The science is in on so-called reparative therapy,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We applaud those lawmakers who are willing to stand on the side of science and quality mental health care by working to eliminate these harmful practices for the good of the citizens they were elected to represent.”
Truth Wins Out recently launched a comprehensive website, LGBTScience.org, where all the foremost scientists studying sexual orientation speak plainly about the current scientific consensus on sexuality. It is an unbiased resource for all interested in studying the scientific truth about sexual orientation. All major medical and mental health associations, including the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, have stated that reparative therapy is ineffective at best, and can be extremely harmful to clients.
Proponents of “reparative” or “ex-gay” therapy frequently couch the issue as a matter of religious freedom, but as the NALT Christians Project shows, one need not renounce religious faith in order to embrace science and best therapeutic practices for LGBT clients in crisis. Truth Wins Out encourages Minnesota legislators not to be swayed by those who will falsely claim that their religious freedom is somehow threatened by passing a bill that ensures quality mental health care for Minnesotans.
If Rep. Clark’s bill passes, it may have the side effect of forcing Marcus Bachmann, husband of U.S. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, to reconsider his career path. In 2011, an undercover investigation by Truth Wins Out discovered that Bachmann’s Minnesota-based Christian counseling practice was offering a form of that therapy to clients experiencing trauma due to their sexual orientation.
“We at Truth Wins Out hope that Marcus Bachmann and other Minnesota ‘therapists’ like him will see the writing on the wall and immediately cease using so-called ‘reparative therapy’ on their clients,” said Truth Wins Out Associate Director Evan Hurst. “The debate is over, and the citizens of Minnesota can’t afford to have one more LGBT citizen fall prey to quack therapists who put their anti-gay agendas ahead of their clients’ needs.”
Truth Wins Out (TWO) is a non-profit organization that works to demolish the very foundation of anti-gay prejudice. Our philosophy is simple: We attack the underpinnings of homophobia by debunking harmful lies, discrediting hateful myths, and countering anti-gay organizations. By chipping away at the underlying ignorance that fuels anti-LGBT attitudes, we can ultimately win our fight for fairness and achieve full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people worldwide.
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