“The White House formally responded to a petition on WeThePeople.gov today seeking a ban on efforts to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of young people, the The New York Timesreports.
The petition called for the creation of “Leelah’s Law,” ideally national legislation that would prohibit licensed therapists from engaging in the scientifically discredited practice of so-called conversion therapy.The petition on the government’s We the People website was authored in the wake of transgender Ohio teenager Leelah Alcorn’s suicide. In a note that went viral after she scheduled it to post to Tumblr after her death, the 17-year-old Alcorn detailed the harm she endured when subjected to conversion therapy by a Christian therapist she was taken to by her parents. The petition obtained more than 100,000 signatures in January, triggering a formal response from the White House.
Noting that the practice is often used on minors, “who lack the legal authority to make their own medical and mental health decisions,” senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett offered a full-throated support from the administration toward efforts to ban such “therapy,” which has been denounced by every major medical and mental health organization in the country as not only ineffective but likely to harm.
“We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer youth,” Jarrett wrote Wednesday night in the White House’s formal response to the petition.
“When assessing the validity of conversion therapy, or other practices that seek to change an individual’s gender identity or sexual orientation, it is as imperative to seek guidance from certified medical experts,” the statement continued. “The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm.
“As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors,” the statement concluded.
The official response also included remarks from the president, who stopped short of outright endorsing national legislation — which has yet to be introduced — to ban such efforts. However, the official response did mention bans on the use of such “therapy” on minors in California, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
“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,” said President Obama in a statement. “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.”
Transgender advocates applauded the administration’s action.”
No one has any idea how often I switch from “The world is so diverse and I can’t judge anyone because we all have our own journey and let’s not judge a book by its cover” to “naw everyone is exactly who they seem they are–bastards”
“There’s an old biblical mandate—“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it”—that’s had the faithful chattering for millennia. Across pulpits and potlucks, in prayers and prophecies, these people thank God for the stranger who mysteriously disappeared after pulling their children out of the path of a moving car, for the comforting presence at the foot of the bed, for the almost-physical peace that flooded them during a long illness.
They say, “Thank you for visiting us in our time of need.”
And they miss the point entirely.
But Angels in America, the Mike Nichols-directed adaptation of Tony Kushner’s play of the same name, plumbs these old words’ poignant depths. It may seem strange to speak of biblical mandates and angels in the context of this story: one of a splintering nation, gay sex, the AIDS epidemic, addiction, abuse of power, and betrayal. Still, Angels in America proves that tenderness, and truth, are closeted alongside paradoxes.
It’s 1985. Ronald Reagan is the president. In Manhattan, Prior Walter (Justin Kirk) tells his lover of four and a half years, Louis (Ben Shenkman), that he’s dying. Roy Cohn (Al Pacino), the powerful—and closeted—right-wing fixer, finds out he’s in the advanced stages of AIDS. Cohn’s errand boy, Republican attorney Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), seesaws between his political ambition and his wife Harper’s (Mary-Louise Parker) agoraphobia, not to mention his Mormon beliefs and his own hidden homosexuality.
Somewhere above San Francisco, the angels mourn God’s absence.”
Jacket- hellbunny (in the U.S. Available at domino dollhouse, I found this one in the UK via eBay)
Shirt- boohoo plus
Skirt- asos curve
Trainers- nike airforce one, via eBay
Glasses- polette
people who use the term “sapiosexual” to describe their orientation…here’s the thing fight club isn’t that good and i promise everyone in your intro philosophy class is tired of hearing you talk
Just prior to giving the 13th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture in early March at the Royal Geographical Society in London – and despite the clock ticking ever-closer to the moment when he had to step out in front of an audience of about 700 – author Neil Gaiman generously granted EIA an impromptu interview in which he shared his thoughts about the natural world and the threats it faces.
The Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture is held annually in celebration of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ creator Adams and the proceeds are shared between the two charities closest to his heart – Save the Rhino International, of which he was a founder patron, and EIA.
