Leticia Y. Flores

Guest columnist

Leticia Y. Flores is a licensed psychologist who serves as a clinician, educator and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. She volunteers with the Tennessee Equality Project.

State Rep. John Ragan and Sen. Janice Bowling have introduced a bill, HB 2576, punishing parents, guardians and health care providers who provide gender identity transition services -- defined (poorly) as “sexual identity change therapy” -- to children, defining such actions as “abuse.” The bill was modeled after similar legislation introduced in Texas in an attempt to block a parent from supporting their child’s developing gender identity. Put simply, Ragan and Bowling’s bill is a cynical attempt to confuse constituents about the bill’s aims.

In the bill, Ragan and Bowling talk about “sexual identity change therapy.” This is sneakily similar to the terms “sexual orientation change efforts,” “conversion therapy” or "reparative therapy.” Such interventions have been deemed by multiple national medical and mental health organizations as to be unsupported by evidence, unethical and harmful. We’re supposed to be against bad therapy, right? And isn’t “sexual identity change therapy” the same thing?

No.

This bill actually turns the idea of “therapy” on its head and against the very kids those medical organizations are trying to help.

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The “therapy” Ragan is trying to outlaw is actually the recommended treatment approach for children questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity. Institutions, including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, all advocate for supporting children as they navigate sexual orientation or gender identity concerns. And they all agree that safely guided gender transition in children (in collaboration with parents and medical providers) is not a criminal offense, but standard and ethical practice.

Ragan’s Jan. 29 performance in the Government Operations Committee - Rule Review session revealed his true aim. Ragan asked Teddy Wilkins, director of the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marital and Family Therapists, and Licensed Clinical Pastoral Therapists, if the APA had a rule on “whether or not psychologists may counsel those who have undesired sexual attraction for conversion therapy.” Despite the garbled sentence, Ragan’s meaning was clear. Can psychologists practice conversion therapy if the person doesn’t want to be gay?

Wilkins’ response: “Not that I know of.”

I can say with absolute certainty that he was wrong. Wilkins is not a psychologist. Ragan should have directed his question to a witness from the Board of Examiners of Psychology. The board would have told him that the APA definitively opposes the use of conversion therapy for sexual orientation or gender identity.

Ragan and Bowling are not anti-conversion therapy, as one may assume from their bill’s tricky wording. Not only do their actions suggest that they support conversion therapy, but they are legislating against treatment standards recommended by the vast majority of medical experts.

Don’t be fooled. Tell Ragan and Bowling to stay in their lane and to leave the kids alone.

Leticia Y. Flores is a licensed psychologist who serves as a clinician, educator and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. She volunteers with the Tennessee Equality Project.