By Stephanie Curry, an attorney and Policy Manager for Family Policy Alliance
Last week, we shared the jarring news that the state of Ohio had removed a young girl (who identifies as a boy) from her home because her parents refused to allow their daughter to be subject to extreme and irreversible medical interventions in the name of “gender transitioning”.
The parents of this Ohio teen girl did their research and decided experimental sex-change hormones and surgery would harm their daughter for a lifetime. The parents instead opted to get their daughter basic talk therapy. They believed therapy could help their daughter work through her depression, anxiety, and gender identity issues.
Despite what the Left believes, parents are best at parenting.
Parents are in the unique position to offer the most protection, support, and love to their child. Not the government. Yet, the state government in Ohio thinks they know better. Ohio devastated this family by removing their daughter from the protection of her parents to place her with a family who would approve the use of experimental drugs and body-mutilating procedures. Does that sound like love?
It doesn’t end there. Ohio legislators also think they know children better than parents and are currently considering a Therapy Ban Bill (SB 126) that would make certain basic talk therapy illegal. The same therapy these Ohio parents sought for their daughter.
Put a different way, some elected officials have determined that basic talk therapy to help this Ohio girl learn to love herself as a girl should be banned, but permanently sterilizing and body-mutilating medical interventions are fine.
This isn’t just happening in Ohio. Washington, New York, Maine, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and fifteen other states are considering legislation that would make talk therapy affirming children’s own biological sex illegal. California is treading on dangerous ground by seeking to make this type of therapy illegal for some adults! It is incomprehensible that leftist activists believe a teen (or even adult) is entitled to make a decision about whether or not to drastically change their body chemically and physically, but teens and their parents can’t make a decision to see a licensed therapist to help them learn to love the body they were given.
Is your state considering banning therapy for children?
This map includes all the states currently considering a Therapy Ban Bill. Purple and red represent states that are considering a therapy ban bill as you read this, though the red states are in danger of becoming law. Blue states already have a therapy ban in law. As you look at this map, you may see an opportunity to join Family Policy Alliance in taking action to defeat these bills in your state. If your state is grey, be thankful. That means your legislators haven’t bought the lie the government knows best for our children.
Thank you for standing with Family Policy Alliance to protect our children.
