News Release
For Immediate Release:  July 12,2017
Contact:  Diane Gramley  1.814.271.9078

Group Asks if Allentown City Council is Poised to Help or Harm the Youth of Their City

(Harrisburg) — Tonight Allentown City Council is scheduled to vote on Bill No. 40-2017 which would take away the parental rights of the citizens of that city who may have a child with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion.  If the bill becomes law those parents could no longer seek counseling for their child in Allentown because any therapist who offered help would lose his or her license by that simple act.   The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide organization advocating for children, has contacted Mayor Ed Pawlowski and City Council with information they need to consider before voting tonight.

“The responsibility of the mayor and city council should be to safeguard their citizens. — both young and old.  They should be willing do what is best for the youth of their city and not bow to pressure to do the politically correct thing. Anyone with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion should be free to get needed counseling.  Without the freedom to seek counseling to address the underlying issues causing these unwanted feelings, youth will be left without hope of resolving and overcoming them – thus leaving them trapped to deal with them alone, ” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.

Points to consider that were included in the letter to Mayor Pawlowski and City Council :

  • There is no ethical or scientific reason to ban this talk therapy which has helped countless overcome feelings of unwanted same-sex attraction and gender confusion.
  • Sexual orientation change therapy carries no greater risk than widely accepted therapeutic interventions.
  • Denying those with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion the therapy they desire violates their rights to health, self-determination and liberty.  It denies their human rights!
  • No one is born ‘gay’ or transgender.  No scientific research has found a ‘gay gene.’   Everyone is born with XX or XY chromosomes which can never change.  In 2008 the APA acknowledged this and instead found that sexual attractions are especially fluid and subject to change during adolescence.

 

  • Daniel Boland, PhD:  ” Those who support the denial of client-and-family rights might also wish to recall that similar legislation was passed during the 1930s in Germany . . . .”

“Our hope is the vote tonight will reflect real concern for the families and youth in the city of Allentown rather than be driven by political correctness or by an activist driven agenda,” concluded Gramley.

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