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The Latest Anti-Gay Oklahoma Bills Are Almost Too Crazy to Believe
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/01/28/oklahoma_anti_gay_bills_on_conversion_therapy_and_blood_testing_are_crazy.htmlOutrageous anti-LGBTQ bills are now a fixture of the American legislative landscape. At the start of each year, extremist legislators come forward with a slew of discriminatory proposals, ranging from cleverly underhanded to openly deranged. Oklahoma’s latest bills fall on the latter side of that spectrum. In addition to some typical “religious liberty” legislation that would let businesses refuse service to gays—par for the course at this point—Oklahoma Republicans have cooked up some fascinatingly cruel bills. Let’s examine them one by one, ranked in terms of sadistic ingenuity....
HB 1598 explicitly states that mental health counselors may engage in “sexual orientation change efforts” with any patient—including those under 18 who are forced into the “therapy” by their parents. The bill also consciously refrains from outlawing* the use of “aversion therapy” to change patients’ orientation, then helpfully outlines what such treatments might involve:
“Aversion therapy” means any counseling by a mental health provider that exposes or asks a client or patient to undergo physical pain, such as electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy, touch therapy, pornography exposure or vomit-induction therapy, in order to change sexual behaviors or gender-identity expressions and/or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex....
HB 3044—which Kern also sponsored—would rip away this lifeline. The bill states that no public school “counselor, therapist, social worker, administrator, teacher or other individual” can “refer a student under the age of eighteen” to any “individual, organization or entity” if the referral “pertain[s] to human sexuality.” In fact, public school counselors can’t even “provide the contact information, business card, brochure or other informational materials” of a gay-friendly organization to students. There’s only one workaround: The counselor must notify the student’s parents 24 hours prior to “making the referral or providing the information.” That notification, of course, would immediately 1) inform the student’s parents that he is gay, and 2) give them an opportunity to forbid their child from talking to any pro-gay groups or counselors....
Remember the days when couples had to get blood tests before they could obtain a marriage license? Oklahoma wants to bring them back—with a twist: Anyone found to have “communicable or infectious diseases” will be denied a marriage license. Though neutral on its face, the bill is clearly targeting gays, who still have an elevated risk of HIV.
HB 1598 explicitly states that mental health counselors may engage in “sexual orientation change efforts” with any patient—including those under 18 who are forced into the “therapy” by their parents. The bill also consciously refrains from outlawing* the use of “aversion therapy” to change patients’ orientation, then helpfully outlines what such treatments might involve:
“Aversion therapy” means any counseling by a mental health provider that exposes or asks a client or patient to undergo physical pain, such as electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy, touch therapy, pornography exposure or vomit-induction therapy, in order to change sexual behaviors or gender-identity expressions and/or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex....
HB 3044—which Kern also sponsored—would rip away this lifeline. The bill states that no public school “counselor, therapist, social worker, administrator, teacher or other individual” can “refer a student under the age of eighteen” to any “individual, organization or entity” if the referral “pertain[s] to human sexuality.” In fact, public school counselors can’t even “provide the contact information, business card, brochure or other informational materials” of a gay-friendly organization to students. There’s only one workaround: The counselor must notify the student’s parents 24 hours prior to “making the referral or providing the information.” That notification, of course, would immediately 1) inform the student’s parents that he is gay, and 2) give them an opportunity to forbid their child from talking to any pro-gay groups or counselors....
Remember the days when couples had to get blood tests before they could obtain a marriage license? Oklahoma wants to bring them back—with a twist: Anyone found to have “communicable or infectious diseases” will be denied a marriage license. Though neutral on its face, the bill is clearly targeting gays, who still have an elevated risk of HIV.
You'd think a state with its own Broadway musical would dial down the homophobia a bit.
