Statement on the 11th Circuit’s Ruling on Conversion Therapy Bans
Media Contact: Bukola Landis Aina
Executive Director, Q Christian Fellowship
bukola@qchristian.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2020
“Today, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that bans on conversion therapy violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, errantly equating affirming and fact-based care with the empirically harmful practice of attempting to coercively change or suppress LGBTQ+ identities, stating that the plaintiffs’ ‘counseling practices are grounded in a particular viewpoint about sex, gender, and sexual ethics.’
“Q Christian Fellowship cannot be silent as this ruling endangers the lives of LGBTQ+ youth who do not always have the means by which to support themselves independent of parents/guardians who seek to coerce an impossible change of identity. We are grieved that our society has not yet deemed LGBTQ+ youth worth legally protecting. Make no mistake: The lives of LGBTQ+ youth are worthy.
“Our work as an organization is grounded in God’s love and our Christian faith, believing that God affirms LGBTQ+ relationships, identities, and forms of expression. It is clear that LGBTQ+ identities are blessed and celebrated by God. We must embody the spirit of God's charge to Peter, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ (Acts 10:15 NRSV)
“On this foundation we must vehemently condemn the Eleventh Circuit's flawed and dangerous ruling. It is imperative that LGBTQ+ Christians and allies—particularly those with public platforms—join us in speaking out against today’s ruling and standing in solidarity with victims of conversion and reparative therapies.”
Background
About Q Christian | UNCHANGED Movement
To date, we have published 70+ stories via the UNCHANGED Movement, a ministry of Q Christian Fellowship countering the resurgent ex-gay movements that threaten the lives of LGBTQ+ people, particularly youth. Many of these stories advocate against the practices rightfully banned by a growing number of state and local governments.
About Conversion Therapy
The majority opinion wrongfully asserts that there is not sufficient, rigorous research to make the case that these practices are harmful. It is unequivocally true that conversion and reparative therapies harm LGBTQ+ people.
Research by San Francisco State University affirms that conversion therapies and outright familial rejection are public health crises that endanger LGBTQ+ youth, finding that:
Rates of attempted suicide by LGBT young people whose parents tried to change their sexual orientation were more than double (48%) the rate of LGBT young adults who reported no conversion experiences (22%). Suicide attempts nearly tripled for LGBT young people who reported both home-based efforts to change their sexual orientation by parents and intervention efforts by therapists and religious leaders (63%).
High levels of depression more than doubled (33%) for LGBT young people whose parents tried to change their sexual orientation compared with those who reported no conversion experiences (16%) and more than tripled (52%) for LGBT young people who reported both home-based efforts to change their sexual orientation by parents and external sexual orientation change efforts by therapists and religious leaders.
Sexual orientation change experiences during adolescence by both parents / caregivers and externally by therapists and religious leaders were associated with lower young adult socioeconomic status: less educational attainment and lower weekly income.
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