URGENT: Contact Your MP To Protect Therapy:

www.familywatchinternational.org

November 18, 2013

ACTION ALERT

House of Commons to Vote on
Banning Therapy to Help Those
with Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction

Dear Friend of the Family,

The House of Commons will vote this Friday, November 22nd on a bill that would deny therapy for individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA) who seek this help.  This will be the second reading for the bill, “Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) Bill 2013-14,” and we are strongly urging you to contact your MP and ask him or her to vote against it.

There are many reasons to reject this bill, including the fact that it violates the fundamental international human right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.  The bill is based on false claims that therapy for individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction is ineffective and even harmful.  However, there is overwhelming evidence that therapy for those dealing with unwanted SSA has helped many people, and a number of them have reoriented to a heterosexual orientation.

Dr. Michael Davidson, one of the most knowledgeable and effective defenders of patients’ rights to therapy in the UK, has laid out the case for opposing this bill in detail in an excellent book, Out of Harm’s Way: Working Ethically with Same-sex attracted Persons.  This book, and two companion volumes, are available on Amazon UK.  Copies of this book have been delivered to all MPs and Members of the House of Lords.

Family Watch also has put together an extensive policy brief showing why adopting such legislation, which has already been enacted into law with respect to therapy for minors in two U.S. states, is irresponsible, unwarranted and will be harmful.  The policy brief is available here.  We have also written a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron and several other government officials explaining why this bill should be rejected.

We strongly urge you to contact your MP as soon as possible and ask him or her to vote against this bill.

You can find contact information for your MP by going to the Find Your MP page. When you contact him or her, we suggest you make several general points:

1. Express your concern that this bill would deny help to individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction who want therapy and who could be helped by it.
   
2. Tell your MP it is clear that the claims that this therapy is ineffective, and even unduly harmful and therefore should be banned, are wildly exaggerated, inaccurate, and in many cases completely false.
   
3. Urge your MP to become educated about the facts before he or she votes by referring to the book Out of Harm’s Way the MP already has received, the Family Watch International policy brief, and/or our letter to Prime Minister Cameron.

Since it is likely that many (perhaps most) MPs mistakenly believe that homosexuals are “born that way,” and therefore cannot change with the help of therapy, you might also want to refer them to our new video, “Understanding Same sex Attraction.”  The video explains why some people develop same-sex attraction and highlights the stories of several individuals who have been able to reorient to heterosexual attraction with the help of therapy.

You do not need to go into much detail to be effective and helpful in defeating the bill.  Simply alert the MP that the arguments being made in support of this bill are inaccurate or false, and urge him or her to determine the facts for themselves.

Time is short.  The vote is scheduled for this Friday, November 22nd, so please act quickly.

You can help even more in defeating this bill by forwarding this alert on to all others whom you think will also contact their MPs.

Thank you for whatever you can do to help on this important issue!

Sincerely,
Sharon Slater
President

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Please forward this on to others!