Letters to the Mayor of Dallas & Judge Jenkins of the Dallas Co. Commissioners Ct. asking to ban conversion "therapy."
This is another of the major lacks in Dallas of basic support for the human rights of Gays. Copies sent to all of the Dallas City Council and all of the members of the Commissioners Court.
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Dallas has a Conversion “therapy” problem.
This is a directory of posts about the problem in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Our representation of the evil of conversion “therapy” is the spirder eating the butterfly.
A petition to ban conversion therapy in the City of Dallas and in Dallas County has been started. The following is the link. Please sign.
https://www.change.org/DallasBanConversionTherapy
Letters to Mayor Eric Johson and the members of the Dallas City Council.
Letters to the Dallas County Commissioners Court
Text of the letters.
Letter to Mayor Eric Johnson and the letter to Judge Jenkins is almost identical. I will show here the letter to Mayor Eric Johnson. The only difference is I say for the Co. Commissioners court is “ask that the Dallas Commissioners Court” instead of the “Dallas City Council,” and it is copied to the Dallas Commissioners instead.
Oct. 5, 2024
Edward H. Sebesta
Street address
Dallas, TX 75XXX
Mayor Eric Johnson
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla St.
Dallas, TX 75201
Dear Hon. Johnson:
I am writing you to ask that the Dallas City Council pass an ordinance against the so-called conversion therapy which is supposed to change the sexual orientation of individuals. It is quack medicine and considered harmful by leading medical organizations.
American Medical Association has stated quite clearly that it is pernicious on their website with this online article, “Sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (so-called “conversion therapy.”)”
https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/conversion-therapy-issue-brief.pdf
“Facts about ‘Convention Therapy,’” American Psychological Association article on how it is bogus. You can download it here.
https://www.apadivisions.org/division-44/resources/conversion-fact-sheet.pdf
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has a Policy Statement on conversion “therapy” also criticizing it at this link.
https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Policy_Statements/2018/Conversion_Therapy.aspx
Its impact individuals in heinous.
“’Conversion Therapy’ as a Degrading Treatment,” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Spring 2022.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8902017/
Individuals have described this quackery and its negative impacts on their lives. This is just a sample of articles where the victims relate their experiences.
Business Insider, “When I came out as gay, my dad thought I was possessed by a demon and forced me into conversion therapy. Years later, I’m now a happy gay man.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/forced-into-conversion-therapy-kid-lgbtq-gay-2023-5
CNN, “What conversion therapy cost me.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/opinions/conversion-therapy-lgbtq-youth-conley/index.html
GQ, “My harrowing Journey Through Gay Conversion Therapy.”
https://www.gq.com/story/gay-conversion-therapy-russia
Teen Vogue, “How Gay Conversion Therapy Came to Be, and How It Persists Today.”
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-gay-conversion-therapy-came-to-be-and-how-it-persists-today
Guardian, ‘I still have flashbacks’: the ‘global epidemic’ of LGBT conversion therapy.”
BBC, “The day I met a ‘gay conversion therapist,’”
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49679273
New York Times, “I Was Tortured in Gay Conversion Therapy. And It’s Still Legal in 41 States.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/opinion/gay-conversion-therapy-torture.html
The Human Rights Campaign has “Sample Legislation to Protect Youth from Conversion Therapy,” which you can download at this website as a pdf.
https://www.nclrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/SampleAntiConversionTherapyBill_2016-1.pdf
Let there be no so-called “faith based” exemptions for this ordinance. Christians have been known to burn each other and others at the stake, but there is no “faith based” exemptions for arson or murder.
For a city which supposes itself as progressive, it is surprising that there isn’t already an ordinance prohibiting this execrable practice.
Sincerely Yours,
Edward H. Sebesta
CC: Dallas City Council members, Chad West, Jesse Moreno, Zarin D. Gracey, Carolyn King Arnold, Jaime Resendez, Omar Narvaez, Adam Bazaldua, Tennell Atkins, Paula Blackmon, Kathy Steward, Jaynie Schultz, Cara Mendelsohn, Gay Donnell Willis, Paul E. Ridley.
For the letter to Judge Jenkins.
CC: Dallas County Commissioners Court, Dr. Elba Garcia, John Wiley Price, Andy Summerman, Dr. Theresa Daniel.
