NH House Committee Rejects Conversion Therapy Ban Legisaltion - Granite Grok

NH House Committee Rejects Conversion Therapy Ban Legisaltion

Heterosexual Family-in-GrassThe Union Leader is reporting that the New Hampshire House Committee on Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs has rejected legislation to ban conversion therapy on a party-line vote.

Both bills contain exemptions for counseling for people “undergoing gender transition” and for “counseling that provides acceptance, support, and understanding.” 

The ban would only apply one-way. If you say anything to a confused teenaged boy suggesting that he might be straight, or even that he is actually a boy, you’d be breaking the law. 

Pushing a child toward being gay or to another gender would be allowed. This isn’t about tolerance. It’s about intolerance for traditional beliefs.

As we’ve repeatedly reported over the years, this is not empathy it is a trap.

If your child (anyone under the age of 18) has wondered whether or not they are, in fact, heterosexual it could be illegal under HB 1661 for any “professional” to counsel them in any way that would encourage that–for lack of a better word–journey to their biological roots. 

It may not have been written with that intention but since when did that matter? This year’s version is HB587, and it is no different. A heterosexual child curious about the “gender spectrum” cannot receive counseling under HB587 that encourages that outcome to the slightest possible detriment of any other.

It’s a gay-way or the highway bill. It also sets a precedent to chill speech, in a way. Anyone in almost any professional capacity that speaks with the young person about gender in a manner that does not advance non-traditional solutions is at risk of breaking the law should it become known to those inclined to charge them.

It is no coincidence that those most likely to encourage a lawsuit or request an investigation by the authorities are the sponsors and supporters of the legislation.

This bill needs to go away, year after year, to protect these people from what is nothing short of compelled silence. Because if gender is a spectrum and a choice wouldn’t compelling people not to advocate for or against every possible choice–including heterosexuality–be discriminatory and bigoted?

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