To: The Iowa State House and The Iowa State Senate
Ban Anti-LGBT Conversion Therapy in Iowa! State Sen. McCoy's bill SF 31!
We, the undersigned, oppose anti-LGBT conversion therapy or any other kind of therapy that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
We, the undersigned, support State Senator McCoy's bill Senate File 31, that would ban such therapy in the State of Iowa.
Why is this important?
Conversion therapy has been opposed by major medical and psychological associations since the early 1990s. It causes harm to the individuals, both mental and physical. “Therapy directed specifically at changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation," said the American Academy of Pediatrics (1993).
You should not and cannot change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity expression. American Psychiatric Association (1998),“The American Psychiatric Association opposes any psychiatric treatment, such as reparative or conversion therapy, which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the prior assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation.” The APA removed homosexuality from its list of disorders in 1973.