Res. No. 157
Title
Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign legislation which designates as professional misconduct, engaging in sexual orientation change efforts by mental health care professionals upon patients under 18 years of age.
Body
By Council Member Dromm
Whereas, The American Psychological Association (APA) defines a mental disorder as a "a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning"; and
Whereas, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other orientations are not mental disorders; and
Whereas, Homosexuality has been documented in many different cultures and historical eras; and
Whereas, Findings by the APA reveal that the longstanding consensus of the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation; and
Whereas, Research by the APA shows that gay men, lesbians, and bisexual individuals form stable, committed relationships and form families that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships and families in essential respects; and
Whereas, Therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation are referred to as curative, reparative, or conversion therapy; and
Whereas, Currently, minors can be forced to undergo conversion therapy by their parents and ministers who refuse to accept that they are gay; and
Whereas, A common technique used in curative therapies involves tying homosexual desires to emotional wounds in early childhood and, in some cases, to early sexual abuse; and
Whereas, According to the APA, all major national mental health organizations have officially expressed concerns about therapies promoted to modify sexual orientation; and
Whereas, For example, the American Psychoanalytic As...
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