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

Philadelphia Urged Not To Take Away Parental Rights

(Harrisburg) —  Today the American Family Association of Pennsylvania  (AFA of PA) faxed each member of  the Philadelphia Committee on Public Health and Human Services a letter outlining several reasons why passage of the bill adding Section 9-903 “Conversion Therapy” to Chapter 9-900 of The Philadelphia Code was not a positive move for the citizens of the City of Philadelphia.   Passage of the bill would prohibit “the practice of conversion therapy by mental-health providers on patients under 18 years of age, under certain terms and conditions.”

“Parental rights will be taken away if this bill is passed.  Minor children with unwanted same-sex attraction would be forbidden to seek relief from those unwanted feelings and forced to deal with them on their own.  This is unfair to caring parents and their children who need help,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.

The letter also listed the following:

  • The term “conversion therapy” is misleading. Qualified licensed therapists do not seek to ‘convert’ anyone; they work with clients to help them reach a goal set by the client – not the therapist.
  • There is no such thing as a ‘gay’ gene. No one is born homosexual.  There may, in some cases, be a pre-disposition to what is called “gay-ness” (although the word “gay” seems an absurd distortion of language, given the relentlessly depressing medical and psychological outcomes experienced by its full-time participants).
  • In most instances, the choice (it is a choice) of a “gay” lifestyle results from a combination of factors, not from a single, universally determinant gene. Passage of your bill would prohibit minors from dealing with those underlying issues i.e. lack of good relationship with mother or father, abandonment by same gender parent, sexual assault.

The AFA of PA asked what type therapy the city will try to ban next.  Will City Council members who like to drink in excess want Alcoholics Anonymous banned?  How about those who like to eat too much, maybe they will target Overeaters Anonymous?  What would be next?

“These attempts are meant to force minors with unwanted same-sex attraction to act upon those feelings. They are meant to force these children into believing they are really ‘gay.’ Homosexual activists are so intent on “proving” there is a ‘gay gene,’ that they are willing to sacrifice children at the altar of political correctness.  It is the children who are the real victims of this effort to validate the homosexual lifestyle.  Parents and their children seeking help should not be hindered by government policies,” concluded Gramley.

(The American Family Association of Pennsylvania is the state affiliate of the Tupelo, MS-based American Family Association. )

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