Equality And Justice For All is helping to organize a press conference hosted by an Ohio family group that is requesting that the Cincinnati City Council repeal the recently passed ban on “conversion” therapy for minors.
Led by openly gay council member Chris Seelbach, the Budget & Finance Committee passed the ban last week.
But Christopher Doyle, leader in the #TherapyEquality campaign of Equality And Justice For All, says bans like these strip minors and families of their rights to therapy that they choose to pursue and deem necessary.
At 9:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 18, Citizens for Community Values led by Phil Burress, will host a press conference requesting that the City Council protect the therapy rights of minors who want help with same-sex attractions.
- WHO: Citizens for Community Values
- WHAT: Press conference to ask the Cincinnati City Council to repeal the recently passed therapy ban for minors
- WHERE: Central Parkway Church of God, 3220 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio
- WHEN: 9:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 18
- WHY: To protect the therapy rights of minors
David Pickup, an ex-gay man, psychiatrist and spokesperson for Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (www.PFOX.org), and Garry and Melissa Ingraham, who also speak on behalf of PFOX and other ex-gay organizations, will all be speaking at the press conference.
After the press conference, the Ingrahams will offer a seminar from 10 a.m. to noon for pastors and church leaders on how they can help those who enter the church doors who are struggling with same-sex attractions. The Ingrahams, now married with a family of their own, both left behind a homosexual lifestyle. There is no charge for the seminar and all are welcome.
Currently, statewide bans on Sexual Orientation Change Effort (SOCE) therapies exist in four states—California, Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon—plus Washington, D.C. Cincinnati is the first city to pass such an ordinance.
“Politicians would like you to believe that laws banning therapy are about protecting gay youth,” Doyle said. “But the reality behind these efforts is really a deep-seated intolerance by gay activists who refuse to acknowledge that for some youth, same-sex attractions are against their faith and values. Everyone has the right to resolve unwanted desires, attractions and unmet emotional needs. And if someone wishes to pursue therapy, who are we to stop them and deny them that right of self-determination? We need to protect and respect all youth, not just some. That’s true tolerance.”
Doyle, a former homosexual who says that therapy changed his life, is now married to his wife and they have five children. He has long advocated for therapy freedom and therapy equality, especially as activists fight harder to ban therapies for minors that help them deal with unwanted same-sex attractions and gender identity confusion.
Despite the successful efforts of gay activists to pass laws in four states and the District of Columbia, in 2015, at least 15 states rejected or refused to pass laws to take away the therapy rights of children and their families, and Doyle believes that’s a step in the right direction.
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