Caption: (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Media pack into the small room at the Heber Wells building in Salt Lake City as state regulators hold a public hearing about a proposed ban on conversion therapy on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019.

Yesterday we talked about child-raising and if you recall I mentioned choices as well as boundaries leading to healthy decisions later in life. Let the child sort them self out with guidance not by overbearing or shoving your own ideas or those of your church down their throat…yeah too easy.

Today, here in the Salt Lake Tribune we find the agency that licenses pretty much any occupation in the state of Utah working on the writing of the administrative rules that affect a ban on conversion therapy. For those of you who remember I did a big piece on this when the legislature was in session. The Governor crafted legislation to end the practice of conversion therapy. When it arrived in the state senate, Karianne Lisonbee essentially replaced it with a bill that sources tell me was written by the conservative Southern Institute, The Eagle Forum, and the LDS Church. The LDS church uses both of these organizations to do their political dirty work. It would seem that Karianne a member of the church is also following the church’s marching orders as well.

A recent national survey cited during Thursday’s hearing found that LGBTQ youths who’d undergone conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide. The Trevor Project’s survey, which had 34,000 respondents, also found that 57% of transgender or nonbinary youths who’d experienced conversion therapy reported they’d tried to commit suicide within the past year.

This is serious business. We are going absolutely fucking crazy about 8 people dying from vaping, but yet we let a “treatment” known to double the chance of suicide in teenagers. Simple reason? They are different than the mainstream of America, but really no different other than how they approach relationships. So how does freaking out about something that has caused 8 deaths that was determined to be from illegal constituents in the vape juice (CDC announced that today) not happen? I asked Karianne these questions again:

Are you a proponent of conversion therapy, meaning that you believe that a therapist can “cure” being LGBT?

Was this bill of you replaced the governor’s suggested bill with your own design or were you lobbied by an outside organization and if so what is that organization?

How do you justify continuing to allow the misuse of a therapeutic encounter to force someone else’s agenda on a patient?

How do you justify the suicides of teens and young adults who are conflicted by this therapy?

I am wondering why you chose to ignore the evidence provided by the APA, professionals from around the state, and the American Association of Pediatrics who would be experts on cause/effect here?

What I am seeing is a replacement bill here designed to do nothing except continue this practice, maybe your words to me as a Nurse Practitioner and my readers will help us understand why. I already have my opinions about your actions and they are negative, I have worked with suicide and have dealt extensively with those who are subjected to this therapy. There is an extensive evidence record by the APA and AAP that shows that the therapy is ineffective and dangerous. The findings of the courts have upheld that this practice is dangerous. You are welcome to comment as well but please take a moment to answer those questions.

I am allowing you appropriate rebuttal again as I am writing about today’s DOPL hearings. I am happy to include unedited (by me) comments. I will be presenting this in my blog and podcast as well as sharing it with my network affiliations.

I will be happy to share those comments when hell freezes over, which will be the time frame that a person of her caliber will take to respond, meaning of course, she won’t, AGAIN.

Look, folks, I don’t obsess with what “straight” people do in the bedroom or how they live their lives. It is how they are wired. The funniest part of this? Gay people, trans people, bisexuals, all worry about money, food, shelter, and what they are doing next Thursday. Just like every soul in America does, around the world in fact. Grow up, stop worrying about who loves who and let them live their lives. If someone is gay, trans, bisexual, it is not a failure, it is a chance for you to grow as a parent.

Also denouncing the practice was McKrae Game, who formerly led a conversion therapy organization in South Carolina. Game recently came out as gay and disavowed his former work.

“I could see the pain in the teens I worked with,” Game said. “They were torn between their thoughts, family, friends and the world around them.”

My personal feeling is that he has a lot to atone for as well.  He has blood on his hands.

Therapy so harmful that even therapists don’t want to do it? Continuing this is the worst kind of unethical practice as a licensed professional and it does need to be banned without the likes of Karianne interfering in something she has no business in. This belongs to the evidence and not your superstitions. Yes, I am tough on her, because quite frankly the usual mob that appears at these things to foist their opinion looks high and low for mouthpieces in the Utah legislature to force theirs and the Church’s view. There is a great chance to lessen the teen and young adult suicide rate and Karianne, unless you give myself and my readers a damn good reason, those childrens’ blood is on your hands.