Biden Issues Executive Order to Fight Conversion Therapy

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Biden Issues Executive Order to Fight Conversion Therapy Without a new law he’s doing what he can on his own

BY ALEX BOLLINGER | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

President Joe Biden is signing an executive order today to fight conversion therapy worldwide. The order addresses several other issues involving anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

The executive order tells the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue rules that ban the use of federal funds for programs that offer conversion therapy. HHS will also have to increase public awareness about the harms of conversion therapy.

Major health and mental health organizations oppose conversion therapy, which describes a set of techniques that practitioners promise will turn gay and bi people straight and trans and non-binary people cis.

Conversion therapy is based on the idea that LGBTQ identity is a problem to be fixed, which can lead to long-term damage to victims’ self-esteem. A 2013 survey showed that 84 percent of former patients of conversion therapy said it inflicted lasting shame and emotional harm, and another study found that LGBTQ people who were forced into conversion therapy had an attempted suicide rate five times above normal.

The Biden administration is also encouraging the Federal Trade Commission to consider classifying conversion therapy as an “unfair or deceptive act or practice” that would require consumer warnings. The Departments of State, Treasury and HHS are also working on a plan to ensure that U.S. foreign aid funds don’t go to conversion therapy.

President Biden supports the LGBTQ Community. (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. )

‘Prince & Knight,’ by Daniel Haack and Steve Lewis, is recognized as an age appropriate book for preschool through third grade children. (Photo Credit: Photographer Name)

even come up for a vote.

Banning conversion therapy was a Biden campaign promise in the 2020 Democratic primary. Biden’s LGBTQ policy brief said that he would work to enact the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which bans conversion therapy.

The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) but has not

The executive order also addresses discrimination against LGBTQ families looking to foster children. Noting that LGBTQ parents are seven times more likely than straight/cis parents to adopt a child from foster care, Biden ordered HHS to increase LGBTQ discrimination protections in the foster care system.

This is an area of contention with the right. The Trump administration loosened protections in this area, allowing adoption agencies that receive federal funds to refuse to work with same-sex couples. HHS will also expand volunteer family counseling and support programs, and research the mental health impacts of family rejection on LGBTQ people.

In a call before the announcement, a senior administration official stressed Biden’s support for the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal civil rights legislation and ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination in many areas. The bill passed the House last year but has stalled in the Senate.

Biden will give a speech to celebrate Pride month this afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time during a reception

Some Parents Freak out When Gay Children’s Book read at School Hostility Aimed at Teachers and LGBTQ Youth Continues BY ALEX BOLLINGER | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Parents in North Carolina’s neighboring state of Virginia are angry that a librarian in the town of Woodbridge read an age-appropriate children’s book called “Prince & Knight” to the school earlier this month.

The book, written by Daniel Haack and illustrated by Steve Lewis, is about a

“prince who didn’t quite find what he was looking for” when his parents tried to set him up with some princesses. He and a knight are then forced to battle a dragon and protect their lands, when he discovers that the knight is who he was looking for all along.

Amazon says the book is appropriate for preschool through third grade children.

Despite the anodyne story, some parents at Marshall Elementary School are angry that a librarian read the book during morning video announcements to students.

“Some romantic issues or sexual issues should be dealt with at home because gay marriage can be a matter of religion,” said Janelle Anderson, as if straight marriages aren’t religious even though they often take place in churches.

“I thought that was a very controversial choice to read at an elementary school level and not give parents the option to opt-out or give parents a warning.”

Anderson was so mad that she posted a video of the librarian reading the book to social media with the caption “Force-feeding gay romance books to kids.”

Regional news reporters from WUSA9 asked her if she would feel the same way if the librarian read a similar book about a straight couple. Anderson replied, “I don’t really think that romance of any kind belongs in elementary school books. I cringe at the Snow White story.”

That doesn’t exactly square with her use of the word “gay” in her video caption or why she hasn’t said anything about any books read at the school

until now.

Former teacher Rebecca Anderson said that she thought it “just makes sense” to read a book with LGBTQ characters during Pride month.

“I think it had nothing to do with sex, and it had nothing to do with anything else other than visibility,” she said. “There’s no difference. Love is love.”

In a statement, Principal Dr. Kristin Bock said that the school will not tolerate “intimidation of Marshall [Elementary] staff and insinuated threats against them.”

A follow-up to the book was released last year. “Prince & Knight: Tale of the Shadow King,” follows the challenges of the now-married couple as they battle an evil force that threatens to destroy their kingdom.

Both books are listed as being available for check out from the Cabarrus County library in the Charlotte Metropolitan area.

This story appears courtesy our media partner LGBTQ Nation. Additional content created by qnotes Staff. : :