NCLR Statement
( Washington, DC, April 8, 2015 )—Today, the White House released its statement in response to a petition calling for federal action to end conversion therapy, a set of dangerous and discredited practices that purport to be able to change sexual orientation or gender identity. The petition was prompted by the death of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teenager from Kings Mills, Ohio, who took her own life in December 2014 after facing years of rejection and enduring conversion therapy.
In a statement presented by White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, President Barack Obama sent a powerful message to LGBT youth across the country: "Tonight, somewhere in America, a young person, let's say a young man, will struggle to fall to sleep, wrestling alone with a secret he's held as long as he can remember. Soon, perhaps, he will decide it's time to let that secret out. What happens next depends on him, his family, as well as his friends and his teachers and his community. But it also depends on us—on the kind of society we engender, the kind of future we build."
Jarrett said the Obama Administration is calling on the rest of the country to follow the lead of California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia by taking steps to protect LGBT youth from conversion therapy. The statement includes strong support for legislation the National Center for Lesbian Rights ( NCLR ) has been instrumental in introducing across the country: "As part of our dedication to protecting America's youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban licensed professionals from providing conversion therapy for minors."
Said NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq: "There are few things more powerful to our children's self-worth than having the President of the United States say you matter. These powerful statements from President Obama and Valerie Jarrett not only affirm the lives of our transgender brothers and sisters, but the lives of all LGBT people. Today, our President made clear that we can and must do better. Every LGBT child deserves to live with full dignity, free from shame, embraced for who they are. Today brings us one step closer to that moment."
NCLR started its Youth Project more than two decades ago to ensure the safety and well-being of LGBT youth at home, in school, and in public systems of care through litigation, policy advocacy, and systemic reform. The project prioritizes full integration and affirmation of transgender youth, fair and equal treatment of LGBT youth in out-of-home care, and ending conversion therapy through NCLR's #BornPerfect campaign.
NCLR has been at the forefront of efforts to protect youth and their families from conversion therapy for more than two decades and, alongside the Human Rights Campaign and state equality groups, has helped pass legislation in California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. NCLR launched its #BornPerfect campaign last year to stop conversion therapy across the country by 2019 by passing laws, fighting in courtrooms, and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by attempts to change a young person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Learn more about the #BornPerfect campaign .
GLSEN Statement on President Obama's Call for End to Conversion Therapy for LGBT Youth
NEW YORK ( April 8, 2015 ) — GLSEN's Executive Director, Dr. Eliza Byard, thanked President Obama for calling for an end to conversion therapy for minors. Organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American School Counselor Association and many others reject the use of conversion therapy, also known as "reparative therapy." GLSEN's Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel, produced in partnership with a coalition of education, health, mental health and religious organizations, address this and other practices.
"Studies conducted by major mental health organizations and personal testimony from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth have shown that conversion therapy can create dangerous and even life-threatening effects, including depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse and suicidal behavior.
"We are thrilled that President Obama will call for an end to the use of conversion therapy on minors. It is a harmful and discredited practice that uses rejection, shame and psychological abuse aimed at changing one's sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
"Fifteen years ago, major medical, psychiatric and counseling associations rallied to GLSEN's side to beat back attempts to force this insidious practice into our schools. We salute them for their pioneering stance and thank the President for his leadership in protecting youth from these damaging and misguided practices."
Lambda Legal Applauds President Obama for Supporting Banning 'Ex-gay Therapy' for Minors
( Washington, April 8, 2015 ) —Today President Obama condemned efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity — sometimes referred to as "ex-gay", "conversion" or "reparative" therapy — for minors.
In a statement released today, President Obama calls for an end to "conversion therapy," stating in part, "As part of our dedication to protecting America's youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors."
Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director for Lambda Legal, issued the following statement:
"This is a critical step in the fight to end these cruel and discredited practices. So-called 'ex-gay therapy' devastates LGBT people and their families, and we commend the president for speaking out against these dangerous and discredited practices.
"In both California and New Jersey, Lambda Legal joined with regional and national organizations working with LGBT young people to advocate on behalf of the ultimately successful efforts in both states to enact legislation preventing licensed mental health providers from using therapies with minors that are demonstrably ineffective and can be deeply harmful, and we were part of the correspondingly successful efforts to defend these bans in court. We will continue to advocate on behalf of LGBT young people as other states likewise move to protect them from this preventable harm.
"These dangerous and damaging efforts to change sexual orientation and gender identity have wrecked lives. Tonight the President lent the full weight of his leadership to the work our community has been doing for years to protect young people and their families. He joins not only Lambda Legal and our sister organizations, but every leading medical and therapeutic organization, as they have unanimously and unequivocally recognized that LGBT people's identities should not be targeted for change."
Efforts to change a young person's sexual orientation or gender identity pose critical health risks, including depression, shame, decreased self-esteem, social withdrawal, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide. For minors, who are often subjected to these practices at the insistence of parents who don't know or don't believe that the efforts are harmful, the risks of long-term mental and physical health consequences are particularly severe. In addition, when these efforts "fail" many LGBT children are kicked out of their homes.
