By Vivian Medithi
Conversion therapy attempts to change LGBTQIA+ teens and children into cisgender, heterosexual kids. Or, as its proponents really think, normal kids. Conversion therapy has been deemed dangerous by every national medical organization and banned in five states and Washington, D.C. (hrc.org). Yet despite the scientific unanimity that conversion therapy is harmful, many still frame this as an issue of parents’ right to oversee their children’s health care.
Except that can’t be right. If parents really wanted the best health care for their child, wouldn’t they do some background research? If every national medical organization deemed a procedure “ineffective and harmful,” you can bet I wouldn’t pay money for it (advocate.com). This issue is really rooted in queerphobia, religious intolerance, and denial of science.
Aditi Rao, a local organizer working with the Iowa Democratic Party on a gap year from Barnard College, has worked with the Iowa State Youth Advisory Council for the past two years to get conversion therapy banned in the state of Iowa. She says the council quickly ran into roadblocks, realizing a year into the process there was “no way” the state Legislature, with a GOP-controlled House and a single-seat Democratic majority in the Senate, would pass a bill banning conversion therapy.
The council then went to the State Medical Board, asking it to deem the practice harmful and thus push the State Department of Public Health to ban it. The board, chosen by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, decided to withhold judgment on the practice, seeking more input. Rao says the board was unconvinced it was a prevalent problem in Iowa but insists it’s much more common than people think, citing underreporting and social stigma.
After meeting with the Medical Board in April, Chuck Hurley, a former state legislator and vice president of the Family Leader Foundation, said conversion therapy was an issue that would be “better addressed” from a legislative perspective (Gazette). Yet when pressed on conversion therapy, most conservative politicians will admit, “I’m not a doctor.” The buck has to stop somewhere, but until then, bigots are more than satisfied giving activists the run-around while queer youth pay the price.
Rao sees this as much as a cultural issue as a political one, citing “silent conservatism” as a driving factor for why talks on progressive issues have started to falter more and more. One might wonder why that is, when Iowa was one of the first states to legalize same-gender marriage in 2010, but many activists have seen conservative pushback in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage in June 2015, particularly on conversion therapy and equal restroom access (Washington Post).
Perhaps most troubling is the flat-out denial of science by conversion-therapy supporters. Much like the anti-vaccination movement, there is little to no legitimate research to support either, and a lot of real data and studies suggest that both are incredibly dangerous. Openly gay Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, describes conversion therapy as “the worst kind of child abuse,” and the scientific evidence supports his statement as fact. But as long as bigots are allowed to mask their intolerance as religion and close their eyes, ears, and hearts to the cold, hard facts, nothing will change.