Conversion perversion

The Editorial Board regrets to inform you that even in the year 2013 we must dedicate space on our page to telling you gay conversion therapy is wrong, immoral, dangerous and degrading.

Luckily, IU and our campus Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services office is against the practice. Unfortunately, some on campus still thought a discussion was necessary.

A meeting was staged by the Poynter Center to debate whether the office should consider making such “therapy” available.

But, just in case the conversation gets serious, let’s go over all the legitimate reasons this “therapy” has no place at our University.

For starters, there is no service on campus offering heterosexual students the opportunity to convert to any sort of queer sexuality through therapy.

The Asian Culture Center isn’t offering eyelid surgery.

The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center isn’t handing out skin-lightening cream.

We can’t change who people inherently are.

People would be up in arms about the mere discussion of aiding straight students in becoming queer.

We tolerate the thought of gay conversion therapy only because queerness is still seen by some backward idiots as a disease to be remedied.

It’s blasphemy to even call the degrading process of gay conversion “therapy.”

The practice has been denounced by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association because it is designed to embarrass and degrade the patient.

People who are LGBT are already at a high enough risk for suicide, depression, anxiety and a myriad of other psychological issues.

This “therapy” only heightens the odds of developing one or more of these problems.

The root of gay conversion relies on the idea that homosexuality is sinful, prompting the notion these ideals are built upon Christian bedrock.

Last we checked, this University is public and unaffiliated with any religion.

The psychotic traveling preachers and TV evangelists win only if we let this therapy occur on a college campus that should be promoting safety and approval for all its students.

Students of all sexual identities should be able to come to IU and feel tolerance and acceptance for who they are, not who they could be through a humiliating run of “therapy.”

Instead of entertaining the idea and weighing the pros and cons, IU should be actively advocating against the practice.

Gay conversion has no positive benefits, psychological or otherwise, and it has no place on our campus.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
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