A Christian therapist is raising concerns about a bill that’s being debated in the Canadian Parliament would ban counseling sessions in which therapists affirm a patient’s decision not to seek gender transition and accept the body they were born with.
Video footage released this week shows examples of therapy sessions that might soon be illegal if Bill C-8, which would ban what is derisively known as “conversion therapy,” is passed and signed into law.
In the videos, therapist Ann Gillies affirms a minor girl from Alberta, named “Rachel,” in her decision not to undergo the transition process and encourages her to accept herself as a female.
The Canadian government defines so-called conversion therapy as any “service, practice or treatment designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, gender identity to one that matches the sex assigned at birth, or to repress or reduce non heterosexual sexual attraction or sexual behaviors.”
Gilles, a retired therapist from Ontario, says the government’s definition is not used by official health associations, such as the Canadian Psychological Association. With the inclusion of the phrase about reducing non-heterosexual attractions or behaviors, the law prevents people from being therapeutically supported should they desire to remain celibate or opt not to undergo a gender transition.
“Canadians want to ensure that any adult or child will be protected from torture or coercion,” Gillies said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.
“However, the federal law does not even use those words in defining ‘conversion therapy.’ And those practices are already banned under the criminal code. This law also makes no distinction between 5-year-olds and mature minors who should be able to choose their support.”
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter
BCNN1 WP 