By Samantha VanAlstyne
Staff Writer
“…I can’t change, even if I tried — even if I wanted to” are the resonating lyrics to Macklemore’s 2013 hit “Same Love.” The rapper and collaborating singer Mary Lambert croon about a fact every LGBTQ+ person has known practically since birth, we cannot change who we are.
According to the NY Times, between 2012 and 2018, 14 states have passed some sort of legislation banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors. New York, although a notoriously democratic and liberally leaning state, was not one of them. This was until the latter part of last year when the wheels of change began to turn and conversion therapies were officially banned. It’s worth mentioning that not all of New York was so slow to realize that the notion of conversion therapies was outdated; summer of 2018, Albany County made headway when it banned conversion therapies within its legislation. Prior to the passing of the legislation New York had been proposing the idea of the ban since 2003; which remained unpassed until democrats took control of the legislature for the first time in a decade.
When our current political climate emerged in 2016, the LGBTQ+ community, like everyone else was very concerned. They [the LGBTQ+ community] were worried because the Trump Administration seemingly favored conversion therapies. This was especially true for Vice President Mike Pence, who the LGBTQ+ community say has publicly supported conversion therapies, although he denies this claim.
Despite a general consensus that conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, was unfounded and per the aforementioned Times article condemned by the American Psychological Association saying that it caused more anxiety and shame to the person undergoing the practice; an estimated 698,000 LGBTQ+ individuals have received conversion therapy, half of them as teens.
So why my interest in the rights of the LGBTQ+ community? My oldest friend, my best friend since I was four-years-old is a gay man. Growing up, I had no idea regarding his sexuality, nor did I care, he was and still is my friend. When he publicly came out a few years ago, my initial reaction was slight confusion, not that he was gay, but that here we were friends for nearly all our lives and he hadn’t told me.
Then it dawned on me, we grew up in a small fairly conservative town, there would be backlash. Do I think that our friends and neighbors would’ve formed a lynch mob or taken some other drastic measure if my friend had come out earlier? No, but growing up in such a small town allows you to discover pretty early that there are people who disapprove of who loves who. And those types of people are the very same people that think sexuality can be ‘treated’ as if it were a disease.
Sexuality isn’t a choice and it most definitely isn’t a disease or an illness of any kind. If you are someone who identifies as anything but heterosexual, you aren’t sick and you don’t need to be “cured” of anything, you are beautiful. If you’re nonbinary, not heterosexual or anything of the sort and need someone to come out to, or talk to I’m here.
The world is full of wonderful colorful people and again I’m thankful that NYS is taking initiative to ensure that the government doesn’t steal our sparkle. After all, never let anyone steal your sparkle.
Thankfully, we now live in a state that realizes trying to ‘fix’ what isn’t broken is not only inhumane but impossible, because nothing is wrong.
