Notes

Two people lie in bed looking at each other deeply.

Conversion Therapy Is Harmful and Wrong—So Why Is It Still Legal in Canada? | FLARE

Since the ’80s and ’90s, conversion therapy has been condemned by most psychiatrists and psychologists, and the Canadian Psychological Association formally opposed its techniques in a statement released in 2015—due not only to the lack of scientific research supporting its efficacy, but more importantly because of the documented mental health consequences, including anxiety, distress, depression,…

Vancouver author Peter Gajdics detailed his experiences of conversion therapy in Vancouver in his memoir The Inheritance of Shame.

Vancouver becomes first Canadian city to ban anti-LGBT conversion therapy | GEORGIA STRAIGHT

Vancouver has become the first Canadian city to ban the controversial, discredited, and anti-queer practice of conversion therapy. Today (June 6), city council voted unanimously for a prohibition bylaw that will prevent businesses from offering conversion therapy, or the pseudoscientific attempt to change the sexual orientation of a person from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual….

Protester holds up sign: "self hatred is not therapy."

Xtra: Vancouver could become the first city in Canada to ban anti-LGBT conversion therapy

Photo credit: Daniel Tobias/Flickr Creative Commons “The City of Vancouver will soon decide whether or not to ban anti-queer conversion therapy, as recommended by its LGBT advisory committee.” And from October of 2017: “It’s time for Canada to ban anti-gay conversion therapy Only Ontario and Manitoba have taken legal steps to limit the practice” Read…

Powerpoint slide by Jason Koleba, "What does Jesus, through the scriptures, have to say about homosexual practice?"

The anti-gay nature of the Alliance Church is a matter of public record

Lately, I’ve had some push back from some folks who doubt that the Alliance Church is anti-gay. I’ve been looking into the issue of harm and hate for so long that I’ve forgotten that some folks don’t simply know the very basic teachings of the church. To some degree, I understand the confusion. Alliance Church…

People walk around in the autumn leaves.
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Explaining harm to straight, cis people

Being gay is just as healthy and normal as being straight.1 But amongst some subcultures in America, it’s commonplace to believe otherwise. But even within mainstream culture, straight folks don’t do a very good job of really thinking about the violence, harm and ridicule that gay folks face. Similarly so for the lack of understanding…

Calling homosexuality a sinful choice is textbook bigotry

When Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote that the “Michigan anti-equality campaign is the last gasp of desperate bigotry” I felt reassured. On my view, if a church chooses to see homosexual behaviour as a sin, that church is anti-gay. And, on my view, being anti-gay is bigotry. Similarly, if a church chooses to see trans people…