The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints releases statement on Utah Conversion Therapy Ban

Amendments to the bill proposing the ban of conversion therapy in the state of Utah has sparked controversy when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came forward to oppose the ban.

Conversion therapy is the act of trying to change or convert a person’s sexual orientation, sometimes through physical practices but often through talk therapy. Those affected are often left with trauma and PTSD in some cases. Today, 18 states have banned conversion therapy and Utah is looking at being one of the next.

The original bill was proposed in March. It died, to the dismay of many LGBTQ members and allies.

The Church expects specific wording in this bill and won’t support it until it is written in, even with the additions of the rule.

Jennifer Bolton, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Commerce, told the Associated Press the decision to adopt the ban or not could take as little as two weeks or as long as five months, yet declined to comment on the numbers. This comes after Gov. Gary Herbert revitalized the bill after its death earlier this year. The church insisted they wouldn’t get in the way this time but were quick to give their public opinion.

“While acknowledging the good-faith efforts of those who drafted the Proposed Rule and fully supporting the goal of protecting children and youth from abusive conversion therapy practices, Family Services regretfully cannot support the Proposed Rule in its current form,” said Family Services, a branch of the church, in a letter addressed to Larry Marx of the Utah Commerce Department.

Many were quick to show their opposition to the church’s statement.

“The thing about religion is that you can’t just only turn to it when it fits what you want to believe,” said senior and USU Student Advocate Vice President Paulina Rivera-Soto. “God is love, acceptance, and kindness. We’re talking about a practice that is proven to increase the risk of substance abuse, severe depression and suicide. This shouldn’t even be up for debate.”

The church updated their statement to make clear they didn’t support conversion therapy practices but wanted the language to change so it protected religious beliefs and practices.

Currently, without the church’s proposal of adding religious exemption, or rule HB399, a therapist could lose their license for suggesting spiritual methods to problems. HB399 also forbids “encouraging a wait and see approach,” according to the church’s letter. The letter also states “grooming, dress, language and sexuality” are considered issues when expressing gender.

This comes only weeks after Russell M. Nelson, president of the church, reaffirmed the church was against same-sex marriage and Dallin H. Oaks, another church leader, confirmed that “binary creation” was “essential to the plan of salvation” and it is necessary to define a person by their gender at birth.

“Conversion therapy is torture and religious freedom ought to not protect the rights of institutions to torture people,” said Daniel Sykes, an anthropology major. “I have experienced the suicidality that having ecclesiastical leaders tell you things like, ‘You are not meant to be the way you are or attracted to the people you are,’ can have on you.” Sykes went on to say the line is drawn at people who work in a mental health profession.

“I know people who were forced to vomit, who were molested, whose heads were dunked in water and so on,” said Skyes. “Not all conversion therapy today is medieval, but it can be incredibly traumatizing, nonetheless.”

The Utah Legislature will reconvene in January 2020 to discuss the future of the bill.

—sydney.dahle@aggiemail.usu.edu

@dillydahle