The state and more than 20 others restrict therapists from trying to change the gender identity or sexual orientation of L.G.B.T.Q. clients under the age of 18.
Needless to say, this will seriously scar a whole lot of kids whose homophobic parents force them through this
Colorado just needs to take a page from the Texas playbook and pass laws creating civil liability for organizations performing this so-called ‘therapy’ where any victim can sue for damages at any time afterwards, even decades later. Make it financially unfeasible to engage in this practice since you can’t make it illegal.
Colorado has always been a den of child abuse. I had a friend in high-school who got shipped out to more than one conversion therapy school.
I can see the regime requiring conversion for any LGBTQ people trying to get Medicare.
Wow, legalising torture of children. Out of words
Time to start setting up straight conversion camps. Give these fucking bastards a taste of their own medicine.
Back in the day it was considered completely normal and appropriate for a father to take a young man to a brothel for his first time.
And no, I’m not going to provide a link.
I hope all 8 die of natural, but divinely inspired causes. They legalized the torture of children. Child abuse is not protected speech
I vote for centipedes chewing into one ear and out the other.
Side benefit: this also means that it is my first amendment right to create “conversion camps“ to deprogram religious zealots
That’s right, the ruling goes both ways, that’s why it was 8-1 and not just a party line split
So in academic psychology, it’s well known that
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Homosexuality is not a disorder
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Gender dysphoria is a cultural disorder (meaning it’s not a mental problem but a problem created by society by stigmatizing a group of people, like how racism makes black people more anxious and prone to depression).
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Conversion therapy is pseudoscience. Literally zero credible research supporting it and plenty of credible research showing it doesn’t work.
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People, especially children and teens forced to have this therapy have high rates of suicide and PTSD.
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The only , and I mean ONLY people who perform this type of therapy are fake therapist. They are not people with PhDs or psyDs. They are church members.
Licensed educated psychologist know the facts I listed. They would never do the therapy because of those reasons or fear of losing license or being sued to oblivion.
Many states allow anyone to call themselves a therapist. You can be a therapist of anything. You can make up a title. It just can’t say “psychologist”. And you can charge people money for bunk made up therapies.
For instance new age therapies are all over.
If a state wants to ban these and can’t outright ban them, then make it so only a licensed PhD or psyD from an accredited university with 50hrs of supervised conversion training by a PsyD or PhD who already has license for this therapy, can perform said therapy.
It won’t be possible for anyone to meet those qualifications that wants to do the therapy.
This lawsuit was brought by a licensed psychotherapist who also happens to be a Christian. There are already restrictions on who can practice psychotherapy. These aren’t some unlicensed people. These are the people you are talking about, with a graduate school education and a licensing process and everything.
Probably someone with a masters in social work. Counselor.
I’ll look into this more.
PhDs are a bit harder to get compared to masters or PsyD. PsyDs are easier as it’s pay-to-get type of degree whereas a PhD is more competitive and requires research experience and a dissertation. So you have to be a research scientist to get a PhD. Not true for PsyD. Some of those people barely understand how to understand research papers or stats. They don’t get training in methods or statistics so they don’t know how to understand research. Nor understand human biased and why we must use scientific method because we can’t trust our own opinion.
There are Christian colleges and universities but they often do not have accredited psychology degrees. They have to have their curriculum be at certain standards set by the american psychology association (apa) to qualify.
However. You can still get a counseling license even if the university you attended is not apa accredited.
Counseling licenses are given by the state.
I think this should not be allowed. But it is.
Yeah there are way too many unqualified mental health practitioners out there.
There is research on outcomes of patients based on the education type and level of therapist.
Those with masters have poorest outcomes and psyD follow. Both of these often do not use “evidence based therapies” but make up their own approaches based on their own beliefs.
As you can imagine that’s not great.
Since PhD psychologist are trained scientist, it’s probably not surprising they rely more on evidence based approaches.
I don’t think making people get PhDs in order to be a therapist is a solution here.
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a therapist. I already had to go through 2 years of grad school plus a little over 3,000 hours of supervised work before receiving my license (I also did an additional 2-year post-grad program in marriage and family therapy).
Acting like that doesn’t make me qualified to provide therapy is frankly bullshit and elitist.
LCSWs are the largest group providing behavioral health services in the Unted States, at 60% (Page 7 - https://socialwork.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/TX-SW-Workforce-Report24.pdf). Suggesting that every single therapist should be a PhD would result in a very swift and decisive mental health crisis in the country because not everyone can afford to take years off making income to get another degree.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every doctor did a psychiatry residency and a cardiology residency and a surgical residency… you know, so that they can be the best doctor and provide the best services? And don’t get me started on PAs!
Shouldn’t all nurses be RNAs then? Why have CNAs and such?
I am sure you see my point.
It is absolutely true that there are bad master’s-level clinicians out there (case in point, see the therapist who brought this suit). There are also bad PhDs out there. Your degree does not determine how good of a therapist you are.
The solution is to do a much better job with state regulations and laws, which will only take you so far… once again, case in point. Colorado tried to do the right thing only to have the Supreme Court shut them down.
Your entire argument is summed up and rebutted here, if you care to read: https://www.psichi.org/page/042EyeWin00bActkinso
Kaley Chiles has a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addiction Counselor in Colorado.
A bunch of places had that information but not the actual college(s) she earned her degrees at. Her LinkedIn has her education, but I don’t want to log in to view it. I did see the logos and they confirm this information that I eventually tracked down:
Denver Seminary, Master of Arts, Clinical Mental Health, 2014
Dallas Baptist University, Bachelor of Arts, Biblical Studied and Psychology, 2012
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Looks like we’ll just have to prosecute them for regular child abuse 🤷
If you want to attend “conversion therapy” as an adult, by all means do so as it is your right to control your own body and mind. Furthermore, parents have the right to raise their children as they see fit, and should have wide latitude in deciding the best way to do that.
However, forcing minors into these “programs” commonly amounts to child abuse and in some cases, torture. On top of being exploitatively expensive, they also don’t work. They need to be abolished.
How Gay Conversion Therapy Camps Actually Work | Authorized Account | Insider
If you want to attend “conversion therapy” as an adult, by all means do so as it is your right to control your own body and mind.
Washington, D.C. banned “conversion therapy” targeting adults too, and they were correct to.
“Conversion therapy” isn’t therapy and doesn’t work, and you shouldn’t be allowed to run a business – let alone a practice – based on fraud. Moreover, not everyone suddenly stops being vulnerable when they turn 18. Adults are definitely still heavily pressured into attendance in states where it’s legal for adults.
There should be no “just for adults, as a treat” pussyfooting around this. It’s fraudulent, demonstrably harmful, and perpetrated by bigots who want nothing less than to exterminate the identities of all LGBTQ+ people. Leaving the fascists alone has never worked.
Yeah it’s medical malpractice plain and simple.
Great points, totally agreed.
Torturing gay kids is such a cool and rational thing to do. Jesus would 100% approve, he loved that shit
Conversion therapy is not going to work because the cause of sexual orientation is probably biological. From https://scienceinsights.org/is-being-gay-genetic-what-science-actually-says/
Sexual orientation is a complex trait resulting from an intricate interplay of influences, not a single cause. Current scientific consensus points to a combination of genetic, hormonal, and developmental factors interacting during an individual’s formation. It is likely shaped by multiple biological predispositions that manifest during development.
Torture. Torture Torture Torture.
Don’t validate it. Ever.
While this isn’t great, it’s only applicable to talk therapy which I don’t think you can have a significant impact on without running into free speech issues which was the ruling. Any “physical” domain-type therapy is not impacted by this ruling which the headline doesn’t make clear*.
*- probably on purpose because Fuck the NYT.
This is why freedom of religion was a mistake and the abrahamic religions should be made illegal for the poison they’ve spread throughout the world. A parent that would rather have a dead child than a gay or trans child should be made into compost
