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The Deets: 

"An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning [Conversion] talk therapy violates the First Amendment."

"Counselor Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, said the law wrongly bars her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids."

"Her attorneys argued that the ban makes it hard for parents to find therapists willing to discuss gender identity with kids unless the counseling affirms transition." 

“I look forward to being able to help them when they choose the goal of growing comfortable with their bodies,” Chiles said in a statement. “Counselors walking alongside these young people shouldn’t be limited to promoting state-approved goals like gender transition, which often leads to harmful drugs and surgeries.”

My Ask:

Let's all please stop calling Conversion practices "therapy." It has  been determined by all of the mental health professional associations that this approach causes harm. And it does. 

Let us all please stop referring to gender affirming interventions as "harmful." This is untrue and misleading rhetoric enforced by those who are targeting the few. The therapists who work with or have worked with TG/NB youth are not engaging in coercion at all. Gender therapists are trained, assess in great depth, and help clients and families explore without pressure. The idea that there has been pressure placed on youth, families, and individuals is absolutely not true. 

Has the system been perfect....of course not. However, those of us who have been trained in assessment and therapy for the TG/NB community, have done so with integrity and with our ethics. The processes for referral and engagement in medical interventions are lengthy and do not happen overnight (and in the case of Tennessee's laws, are no longer an option). 

Exploring identity, expression, and orientation is normal. What is not normal is abusing the safety of the therapy environment to proselytize to those individuals, regardless of age, who are exploring and questioning who they are and what that means. If a youth or adult is questioning their identity and/or orientation and that individual seeks out a pastoral counselor, without coercion, on their own volition, that is one thing. But what I have witnessed are people who have been tricked or forced into seeing a religious counselor. It is harmful. It is unethical. And it should not be permitted by legislators and judges. 

You cannot pray the LGBTQ+ away. We are here, we are queer, and we will never stop fighting for our equal rights.