GOP can’t be undecided: Pence pro-conversion therapy for LGBT youth

by Micah Elliott
Op. Ed.

For over a year, Donald Trump has spread his own brand of misogyny and racism, gaining more and more support along the way because he “speaks his mind” and “says what other politicians won’t say.”

While Trump’s tweet in support of the victims of the shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando seemed to send an ideological ripple through the conservative party, choosing Mike Pence as his VP and running mate hits the hateful hat trick adding anti-LGBT rhetoric into the campaign.

Pence supported, and the RNC adopted, a policy this week that circumspectly contradicts the GOP’s shifting stance on LGBT rights.

In the past, Pence attempted to divert funds from helping HIV/AIDS patients to help torture LGBT youth instead. It was his argument that helping people suffering from these diseases was an endorsement of the LGBT lifestyle.

Pence ignores the consensus among medical and psychological experts who state unequivocally that homosexuality is neither a disease which can be cured, nor a learned behavior which can be treated. Rather, the potential Vice President of the United States supports child abuse.

According to the Daily Beast, “All known methods of conversion therapy [meet the Geneva Convention’s definition of torture].”

The controversial conversion therapy bill has transformed by the simple removal of the word “conversion.”

“We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy, for their minor children,” the amendment says.

As more and more people come out against conversion therapy, and the majority of Republican voters are either undecided or openly support LGBT rights, it’s a bizarrely antiquated move by the GOP to propose an amendment that seems to not only ignore the constituency, but also science.

Copyright 2016 The Gayly – 7/21/2016 @ 6:17 p.m. CDT