Ex-gay versus transgender
By Glen Retief, special to the Times
In Print: Sunday, August 14, 2011
http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspective/ex-gay-versus-transgender/1185263Are the people who are going after Michele Bachmann for her husband's ex-gay program self-righteous hypocrites? After all, most of the ex-gay movement's critics — from the American Psychological Association to the LGBT lobbying group the Human Rights Campaign — support therapy aimed at helping trans people change genders.
Let's say someone named John Deer from Dallas, Pa., decides that for health and sanity, s/he needs to live as Jane Doe. Therapists will check to see if John/Jane meets the criteria of gender identity disorder. If they decide she fits this diagnosis, they will back her as she addresses her deep, visceral discomfort with her male gender role. They will encourage Jane to adopt gender behaviors that feel "right" and, if appropriate, will counsel her through hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.
Yet substitute "sexual orientation" for "gender" in the above description, and most Americans — 69 percent, in one recent poll — will say, "That's crazy! Sexual orientation should be accepted."
