Susan's Place Logo

News:

Visit our Discord server  and Wiki

Main Menu

Family Research Council: Transgender People Need Therapy, Not Nondiscrimination

Started by Shana A, February 27, 2013, 12:06:59 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Shana A

Family Research Council: Transgender People Need Therapy, Not Nondiscrimination Protections

By Zack Ford on Feb 26, 2013 at 4:07 pm

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/02/26/1643041/family-research-council-transgender-people-need-therapy-not-nondiscrimination-protections/?mobile=nc

Today the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee has been hearing testimony regarding Senate Bill 449, the Fairness for All Marylanders Act, which would finally add gender identity to the state's nondiscrimination protections. Unfortunately, the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg was on hand to testify his belief that transgender people have a "disconnect with reality" and need counseling, not protection under the law:

    SPRIGG: A person who believes they are, or wishes to be, the opposite sex from that which is written in the chromosomes of every cell of his or her body, is suffering from a disconnection with an immutable biological reality. The solution to this problem is not actions – up to and including self-mutilating surgery amputating healthy body parts – which will reinforce this disconnect with reality. The solution is compassionate counseling aimed at helping the individual to uncover the psychological roots of their gender identity problems, and to become comfortable with one's actual biological sex.

    I understand the motivation behind this bill – the sponsors are concerned about the pain in the lives of these individuals, and hope that this intervention will ease that pain.

    While I share that motivation, I must oppose this bill because it will not work. This bill would force the state and private actors – employers, landlords, and others who provide public services – to officially and legally affirm the very delusion that puts these suffering individuals at odds with reality. Not only will it not make their lives better, but it will prevent them from getting the very help they do need to make their lives better.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde


  •  

natastic

The attitude espoused by the FRC is precisely the kind of thinking that kept me from transitioning for soooooo long.  And in the interim, life got worse.  They don't know what they're talking about.

  •  

suzifrommd

The guy's remarks are disgusting, but really, this article is looking at the hole and not the doughnut.

The big story here is that the Maryland Senate Judiciary Committee is likely poised to recommend a transgender anti-discrimination bill. A big step forward for transgender Marylanders like me.
Have you read my short story The Eve of Triumph?
  •  

Jess42

It's my body I shall do what I wish with it or to it. How can it be considered self mutilating surgery when a doctor does it? If so, isn't plain old plastic surgery self mutilation too? If I go get a nose job to make it smaller, part of it will go in the trash can. Unless for reconstructive surgery after accidents isn't it all the same in terms of dysphoria that there is a part of your body that you want changed. I wonder if Sprigg's wife has had Rhinoplasty, liposuction, botox(poison) injections or a butt lift.

B.S. no one in that group cares about my pain or anyone else's, just how much money they can rake in from donors and such.

Rework the whole system of discrimination laws and pass a bill that covers discrimination period, and then enforce it. Not just because you are male, female, feel like one or the other, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, red, brown and for the UFOlogists out there, green or grey. It's just not right to discriminate period for whatever reason. In my younger days playing in a band, I lost jop oportunities for nothing more than being a male with long hair. I know because I was more than qualified for the jobs and had excellent references, just not what they thought I should look like. If discrimination of any kind can be proven and in the information age and computers it can be fairly easy to prove in the way of records, enforce the law to the letter.

I've never understood hate crimes or the definition of it either. Crime is crime. It sort of makes me feel they pander too much for votes.  In the case of murder who cares what gender, color, creed and so on. A life was taken, sometimes for nothing other than someone wants to see how it feels. Someone's loved ones will never see them again and the murderer needs to be punished to the maximum extent of the law period.

All of these laws brought to us from the same type of people in political power that run assault weapons across the border and put them in the drug cartel's hands and then later tell me, a law abiding citizen with not even a speeding ticket, that I shouldn't be able to own one.

Lunacy runs amuck.

  •  

Mosaic dude

Someone is certainly suffering from a disconnection with biological reality.
Living in interesting times since 1985.
  •  

Carrie Liz

I agree, it is this EXACT attitude that kept me from transitioning for so long... because I really did believe that it was something that would go away if I just learned to be happy with myself. Because of this mindset, I shoved my transsexual thoughts off to the side for 14 years, never confronting them, always trying to pray the thoughts away, treating them like some disease that needed to be cured. But as might be expected, nothing worked. I was able to ignore it with varying degrees of success depending on how happy the rest of my life was at any given moment, but the thoughts never really went away, they was always there lurking under the surface. I was still always so jealous of little girls, still always miserable with the clothes that I had to wear and the way that I was expected to act, and felt like I couldn't really be myself even when I was playing the role of the good son at my absolute best.

Articles like this just make me downright mad. They have no freaking clue what we've been through, because they're talking about something that they have NEVER experienced themselves, and thus have no freaking clue what they're talking about.
  •  

Jess42

Quote from: cheetaking243 on February 27, 2013, 05:07:59 PM
I agree, it is this EXACT attitude that kept me from transitioning for so long... because I really did believe that it was something that would go away if I just learned to be happy with myself. Because of this mindset, I shoved my transsexual thoughts off to the side for 14 years, never confronting them, always trying to pray the thoughts away, treating them like some disease that needed to be cured. But as might be expected, nothing worked. I was able to ignore it with varying degrees of success depending on how happy the rest of my life was at any given moment, but the thoughts never really went away, they was always there lurking under the surface. I was still always so jealous of little girls, still always miserable with the clothes that I had to wear and the way that I was expected to act, and felt like I couldn't really be myself even when I was playing the role of the good son at my absolute best.

Articles like this just make me downright mad. They have no freaking clue what we've been through, because they're talking about something that they have NEVER experienced themselves, and thus have no freaking clue what they're talking about.

You know, I've long ago figure out that I can't read minds. I also figured out that a lot of things aren't what they seem. These people my know exactly how we feel because a lot of the folks may have and still feel the same feelings and hate themselves for it and then project that hate upon others like they feel they may be. Sort of like the 'gaybashers' in my younger days. I knew people that would harrass gays. When I would speak up I would get the, "what are you gay or something?" I would say no but ask, " are you?" They wouldn't physically hurt or maim but just be mean. I was at a party, Ahh the good ol days of the eighties, and one of these particular persons was drunk. I was stoned, never hardly drank in those days so I had most of my wits about me. Me and my band were still in the eighties hair/glam rock uniform of the day. More or less high tops or snake skin boots, Spandex pants and tank tops You get the idea. Look at Poison and Motley Crue with Look What the Cat Dragged In and Shout at the Devil. We covered'em so we tried to look like'em, make up, big hair and all. This "gay basher" was hitting on me and our singer. Even kissed me. Even though I'm not necissarily into guys per say, I let him. What the hell, with all the lipstick and makeup, skin never touched skin. All the time this was going on, our bassist was snapping pictures on a real camera not cell phone, so they were real clear. Needless to say, he never said another bad word about gays when confronted with the pics. Never even said another word to me or showed up at another gig and we did quite a few at the time.

Looking back with clearer eyes now. I never should have let that happen, should even have befriended him, but what this group was doing was just out and out hurtful to others and in my oipinion, he got exactly what he deserved and now I wish him well. The gays were still gay, what they were doing never changed them. But the moral of the story is that you can't always judge how others truly feel and what bothers them most about themselves is what they hate about others. It's not always true but a lot of times it is.
  •  

Lorri Kat

Peter Sprigg needs a therapist!!     I was born this way and no amount of 'therapy' will change that.  I knew my body was wronge before I was 5 , I was supposed to have an 'innie'..not an 'outie'.   
=^..^=
  •  

Shana A

Quote from: Lorri Kat on February 27, 2013, 06:33:42 PM
Peter Sprigg needs a therapist!!

I was rather tempted to alter the headline when I posted...

Family Research Council: Transgender People Need Therapy, Not Nondiscrimination Protections    >:-)

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde


  •