The Green Party's national LGBIQ Group has issued the following press release. It is incredible that decades after Kinsey and other leading researchers have declared that various sexual orientations are mainstream and normal that religious cranks and homophobes are still peddling their lies.
NEWS FROM THE GREEN PARTY of England and Wales LGBTIQ GROUP
http://www.lgbtgreens.org.uk/
LGBT Greens: Being LGBT is not a disease!
Anglican Mainstream Organisation should be stopped from preaching their so-called ‘treatment’
For Immediate Release
24.4.9
Green Party activists today expressed their horror at the news that there is a conference in London organised by the Anglican Mainstream Organisation this weekend, aimed at informing delegates about ‘curing’ gay men and lesbians.
“Being lesbian or gay is not a disease!” said Lesley Hedges, spokesperson for the Green Party’s LGBTIQ group and an experienced mental health counsellor. “This kind of mistaken 'treatment' is not just a waste of time and resources, it can be extremely harmful. It is based on the fundamentally unsound idea that there is something wrong with variant sexualities.
Lesley continued: “The World Health Organisation removed Homosexuality from the classification of diseases in the Statistical and Diagnostic Manual in 1990. Significantly, this is used by clinicians to identify mental health problems.[1] The fact that no reputable and ethical therapist would try to change someone’s sexuality speaks volumes about what sort of ‘treatment’ is being advocated by the Anglican Mainstream Organisation. There is a real danger that people referred for such treatment will have an increase in the self-hatred they feel.”
“Young people are especially at risk, especially those whose family and friends do not understand and support them when they begin to understand their sexual identity. That identity is an important part of anyone’s psychological makeup and as stats assert: LGBT youth are at greater risk of self-harm and suicide, which develops from their experience of negative attitudes.
“This kind of so-called treatment,” concluded Lesley “should not be available as it can harm people who are in an already vulnerable state. Claims that being gay or lesbian is a disease not only hark back to a by-gone era but are also about actively blocking the advances that LGBT people have won.
“Anglican Mainstream Organisation: we will not go back into the closet! We are now more able to live openly and comfortably in our neighbourhoods and feel accepted where we work, study and relax. You will not drive us back into the closet through your so-called treatment.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors: Phelim Mac Cafferty Media spokesperson for the LGBT Group on 07765 474 621
http://www.lgbtgreens.org.uk/
LGBT Greens: Being LGBT is not a disease!
Anglican Mainstream Organisation should be stopped from preaching their so-called ‘treatment’
For Immediate Release
24.4.9
Green Party activists today expressed their horror at the news that there is a conference in London organised by the Anglican Mainstream Organisation this weekend, aimed at informing delegates about ‘curing’ gay men and lesbians.
“Being lesbian or gay is not a disease!” said Lesley Hedges, spokesperson for the Green Party’s LGBTIQ group and an experienced mental health counsellor. “This kind of mistaken 'treatment' is not just a waste of time and resources, it can be extremely harmful. It is based on the fundamentally unsound idea that there is something wrong with variant sexualities.
Lesley continued: “The World Health Organisation removed Homosexuality from the classification of diseases in the Statistical and Diagnostic Manual in 1990. Significantly, this is used by clinicians to identify mental health problems.[1] The fact that no reputable and ethical therapist would try to change someone’s sexuality speaks volumes about what sort of ‘treatment’ is being advocated by the Anglican Mainstream Organisation. There is a real danger that people referred for such treatment will have an increase in the self-hatred they feel.”
“Young people are especially at risk, especially those whose family and friends do not understand and support them when they begin to understand their sexual identity. That identity is an important part of anyone’s psychological makeup and as stats assert: LGBT youth are at greater risk of self-harm and suicide, which develops from their experience of negative attitudes.
“This kind of so-called treatment,” concluded Lesley “should not be available as it can harm people who are in an already vulnerable state. Claims that being gay or lesbian is a disease not only hark back to a by-gone era but are also about actively blocking the advances that LGBT people have won.
“Anglican Mainstream Organisation: we will not go back into the closet! We are now more able to live openly and comfortably in our neighbourhoods and feel accepted where we work, study and relax. You will not drive us back into the closet through your so-called treatment.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors: Phelim Mac Cafferty Media spokesperson for the LGBT Group on 07765 474 621
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