In the tradition of every political party around the time of their convention they begin to rewrite their party platform, Republicans have begun to do this and wow is it terrifying. It's quite obvious how homophobic and suppressive the Republican party has been on LGBT rights, it's 2016 and only four Republicans in Congress supported marriage equality. But this new platform adopts even more hateful and bigoted views on LGBT people. Things such as Conversion Therapy have been added to the platform, Republicans fail to see this as the ultimate irony, they will quickly say they have no problem with LGBT americans.... they just want them to completely change who they are.
I bet you will Don *insert eye rolls here*
When reading the platform they wrote for the Klan meeting (oh wait sorry I meant convention) I really became infuriated when seeing LGBT conversion therapy was being ADDED to the platform. It was introduced by the biggest boogeyman himself Tony Perkins, the President of the Family Research Council. If you've never heard of the Family Research Council (lucky you) they're basically a bunch of "straight" men and women who sit around full of hate over LGBT people have equal rights. You might have heard of them when they had to make child molester Josh Duggar step down from his position with them after that whole scandal.
LGBT conversion therapy is something that has been long researched, and was celebrated throughout the psychological community until the Stonewall riots in 1969 (a major American event that is still swept under the rug by the education system). The methods that have been used range from psychoanalysis, electric shock therapy, to ice pick lobotomies. Now in recent years the methods have changed been the outcomes are still the same, LGBT youth committing suicide. These practices have been condemned by every mainstream medical and mental health organization but are being ADOPTED by the Republican party. Why you ask? Republicans are anti-facts when it comes to LGBT americans because of their narrow minded bigoted views on gender identity and love.
Subjecting LGBT youth to conversion therapy is extremely dangerous, as well as deadly. One of the first times the horror of conversion therapy came to my attention was with the death of transgender youth Leelah Alcorn. Raised in a conservative Christian family when she came out to her family as transgender to her family. Sadly Leelah wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms, her parents began making her attend conversation therapy sessions. In her suicide note that was posted to her Tumblr account after her death Leelah spoke of some of the methods (torture) she endured. It included being made to feel guilty for who she was, shaming her for how she felt, and being told she should look to God for a fix. When she admitted her attraction for men she was pulled out of school and had social media taken away from her. This conversion therapy wasn't Leelah's fix, she was driven to think her only fix (even though nothing was broken) was walking into traffic to end her own life.
How many Republicans have heard of her?
Probable answer none.
The Republican party has gone farther right than ever before, proving it is the party of the close minded.
