Against.
For pretty much the same reasons as before.
1. "conclusively shown what already makes intuitive sense, that sexual orientation and gender identity are not choices"
The author presents opinion as though it were irrefutable science, and, while the scientific community has failed to reach a definitive conclusion on the subject. A proposal with a dishonest foundational premise should be immediately suspect.
Um, no the consensus in science is that is it not a conscious choice, the only ones pushing the "its a choice" narrative are scientists that are funded by faith groups.
2. "Defines, for the sake of this resolution, "conversion therapy" as any attempt to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of an individual"
I am not convinced (and there is zero scientific evidence) that a child of 5,6,7 years has the intellectual capacity to make determinations about their gender identity. Children are impressionable, and are just as likely to be gleaning to an overheard concept, as they are to be feeling a legitimate disconnect from their physical state.
Well using your logic from point #1, anything that makes a false claim needs to be thrown out. There is evidence that children that old have the capability to deal with these issues. Even though it is disputed. Either way its definitely not healthy for parents to scream at small children they are going to hell and will never see their "good" family members in heaven entirely because they think that way.
At that age, lots of kids think they're Batman, too.
So your argument here is that we should be able to torture kids who say they think they are batman? Cuz that is what Conversion Therapy and the tactics that are employed against kids to try to force them to change is.
Those children's parents wouldn't be doing much of a job if they enabled and encouraged that child to continue to think that way into young adulthood. Similarly, it is the parent's role to explain and sort out any confusion their child may be experiencing with regards to their gender, if they are still in a highly developmental stage. Criminalizing that ability for parents has the potential to do as much harm, create as much confusion, depression, and internal conflict for children, as the conversion therapy that this proposal seeks to outlaw.
Had this proposal stuck to the subject it was initially trying to tackle, it would have had my support, but as written, it is too far reaching, and relies to heavily on conjecture and pop-culture pseudo-science.
Your statement here is highly disingenuous, this isn't the "You are forced to be supportive bill" this is the "You can't torture children bill" There is nothing that written as you must support them, its entirely about you can't use tactics to coerce or threaten them. This does stick to the subject at hand. The vast majority of parents don't send their kids Conversion Centers. Its homebrew attacks on kids before they have a chance to actually understand their own feelings.
