Conversion Therapy: Sturgeon Set To Criminalise Parents & Preachers – Legal Challenge Looming
From the Christian Institute…
The Scottish Government’s far-reaching ‘conversion therapy’ plans amount to Holyrood overreach, a leading human rights lawyer has said.In a legal opinion for The Christian Institute, Aidan O’Neill KC warned that the “fundamentally illiberal” proposals are “beyond the powers of the Scottish Parliament to legislate”.
‘Breach’
The SNP-Green alliance is considering controversial plans to outlaw any activity – including parental chats, prayer and preaching – deemed to be an attempt to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity.
It appointed a so-called ‘Expert Group’ which made a series of recommendations – welcomed by the Scottish Government – for a new criminal offence.
But The Christian Institute criticised the report for criminalising the ordinary work of churches, promoting LGBT theology, targeting parental rights, and undermining free speech.
Now, Mr O’Neill has branded the recommendations “in breach of the restriction on the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence” as set out in the Scotland Act 1998.
‘Totalitarian’
The Institute’s Simon Calvert warned that the Scottish Government is at risk of “inflicting the most totalitarian conversion therapy ban in the world on the people of Scotland.
“Church workers, feminist activists, mums and dads – all sorts of innocent people could find themselves on the wrong end of a prosecution if this becomes law.”
He also said: “LGBT people are rightly protected from physical and verbal abuse by existing law just like anyone else. But these proposals go much, much further.”
He concluded: “The Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament must take Aidan O’Neill’s advice seriously. They may not like what Christians have to say about sexuality, or what feminists have to say about gender identity, but they can’t just criminalise opinions they don’t like.” Continues…
Editor writes…
With the Scottish Bishops all too willing to sign declarations of friendship with the Church of Scotland and, no doubt, any and every religion under the sun, where is the declaration opposing this latest totalitarian move by the Scottish Government? And why should taxpayers have to fund these outrageous lawsuits, if, as is most likely, this latest SNP stunt goes to the Supreme Court? Your thoughts…
Comments (35)
How is it, that if a male chooses to be a ‘female’ or vice versa, that is OK, and the government supports that choice. But when a male or female with unwanted same-sex attraction chooses to address their situation, that is suddenly not OK. So how come certain people have ‘rights’ and others don’t? No joined up thinking here. I think Dr Gerard van Aardweg saw this coming and wrote this book: The Battle for Normality, available here in book or e-format: https://ignatius.com/the-battle-for-normality-bnstp For those interested, buy it soon, before it is ‘cancelled’.
WF,
Too right there’s no joined up thinking here. Sturgeon doesn’t DO “thinking”. That book looks interesting, not that I think we’ll ever return to normality, not as we knew it before the covid lockdowns, when we knew the difference between a man and a woman! LOL!
Fidelis,
Normality is not coming back for a while. They are even changing the meaning of words like “woman” in dictionaries now. It’s official, LOL!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/cambridge-dictionary-redefines-woman-to-include-men/ar-AA15edsZ
Fidelis,
The book referred to is a self-help manual specifically for those with unwanted same-sex attraction who want help to come away from it – that is the normality referred to, it doesn’t deal with the current abnormality of the wider world. It doesn’t claim to solve all those problems. Those who think they should be a member of the opposite sex and are operated on and then realise their error too late, can access this website for help: http://www.sexchangeregret.com As these people won’t be able to access medical/psychiatric help if conversion therapy and ‘detransitioning’ become illegal, self-help resources like those I have mentioned will be their only hope.
westminsterfly @10:31am
You mention that Aardweg’s book doesn’t deal with the issue of ‘transexualism’ aka transgenderism. I am a strange person, so I have a interest in academic sexology and I read a lot about these issues, particularly the psychological causes. I would highly recommend the work of Ray Blanchard, an academic psychologist and sexologist who has theorised that there are two types of transsexual male: 1) autogynephilic transexuals (AGP), and 2) homosexual transexuals (HTS). ‘Blanchard’s typology’, as it is known, has not been well received by the transgender activist movement.
Autogynephilic transexual men are men who have a heterosxual orientation who classicially transition as adults, often middle aged. These men are always gender-conforming, i.e., they act like stereotypical men. However, they are sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as the opposite sex. They indulge in this fantasy of being a woman through, for example, cross-dressing. Over time, these fetishistic transvestites develop gender dysphoria. Often they transition after they have married and have had children. These types of men should never transition, because they are suffering from a mental disorder. The stories in the press about transgender men who have assaulted women, are nearly always this kind of transexual, AGP. These men never successfully pass as women. This is why so many feminists are opposed to AGP men, and they are right to be afraid of them, because these men have a sexual motive to be in women’s spaces. These feminists are called TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminism).
Homosexual transexuals are men who were gender non-conforming as young boys, i.e., they were feminine. They experienced severe gender dysphoria as children. These men are attracted to their own biological sex, i.e., they are homosexual. They classically transition to the opposite sex in late adolescence or early adulthood. Because these men are so feminine, homosexual men often reject them as sexual partners. In order to seek more sexual partners, they transition to women in order to have sex with heterosexual men. The heterosexual men who have sexual relations with these transexuals have a paraphilia known as gynandromorphila, which means an attraction to women with male genitalia. In Thailand they are known as Ladyboys and they often work as prostitutes. These men occasionally are able to pass as women.
I’m taken aback that the bloggers here, WF onwards, don’t remember that we are now living in the New Normal! Normality as we knew it before covid, isn’t coming back – they’ve told us that.
Nicky
The New Normal? I’m taking Michael Matt’s position: I. DON’T. CARE. !!! https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/6282-globalism-s-god-complex-fake-news-on-steroids
westminsterfly @7:19pm
I didn’t like van den Aardweg’s book, and I felt that the tone was too strident and polemical. A psychotherapist whom I have known for several years specialises in this area and he didn’t like the book either. According to this therapist, Aardweg has written a better book about the subject, however it is out of print. For some reason, Ignatius Press has decided to keep this book in print, rather than the other. I think Nicolosi has somewhat better insights than Aardweg. Nicolosi’s most recent book is called ‘Shame and Attachment Loss’.
I don’t know what Nicola Sturgeon is about, why she is so determined to push these woke agendas. She’s front and back at the “pride” marches and now she wants to criminalise anyone who has a different opinion about conversion therapy. If someone can decide he wants to dress and identify as a woman, no questions asked, why can’t a gay person decide he doesn’t want to be gay any more? As WF says, there’s no joined up thinking in her head at all.
Could a widower claim to be a woman and so become a widow to claim a widow’s pension?
Could a Scotsman on a sinking ship with not enough lifeboats claim to be a woman to get access to a seat on one of the boats?
Could Santa Mc Claus join a circus as a bearded lady?
If Nicola’s spouse claimed to be a woman would that make her a lesbian?
If a male pilot joined the WRENs could he then fly without his aeroplane?
Could Alex Salmon(d) now become a female fish and Nicola claim to be a male one?
Will a fisherman who claims to be female be able to get open-toed, high-heeled
waders now in Scotland?
These are only a few of many questions I would like answered before I make
up my mind to take advantage of Nicola’s very kind considerations.
Frankier,
I don’t think there would be a problem with anything on your very funny list. The problem is if you tried to speak to someone else – say a son or a daughter – to try to turn them away from the LGBTQI+ lifestyle. That could see you with a criminal record, under the SNP plans to ban what they call conversion therapy. If you try to convince someone else, say a friend or if you are a clergyman, members of your congregation, that they should turn away from homosexuality or transgenderism, that’s the problem. There’s no problem with “converting” to the opposite sex or anything else, that kind of conversion is OK. It’s just the other kind. The whole thing is mad IMHO.
Frankier (not Crankier),
I love the “fisherman, open-toed, high-heeled waders” – I wouldn’t be surprised, LOL!
The Institute’s Simon Calvert warned that the Scottish Government is at risk of “inflicting the most totalitarian conversion therapy ban in the world on the people of Scotland.
This is seriously worrying stuff. As it says in the Christian Institute article, this is another example of the totalitarian tendency of the SNP government. They’ve not learned from their Supreme Court defeat over the dreadful Named Person Scheme.
Just imagine – if this law passes, Scotland will have “the most totalitarian conversion therapy ban in the world” to quote Simon Calvert again. It doesn’t bear thinking about. A law like this could be used in all sorts of situations, wickedly, to punish people for expressing an opinion which Sturgeon doesn’t agree with. It’s terrifying.
The madness deepens with a Scottish court ruling that biological sex is not limited to those born as biological women (can’t believe I’m writing this…) Below, an extract referencing convicted sex offenders…
The decision explodes the argument by Nicola Sturgeon’s government that its proposed changes to the 2004 Act, scheduled to be rushed through the Scottish Parliament next week, are merely administrative. By the end of this year, according to the current plan, anyone in Scotland will be able to acquire a GRC with next to no safeguards; they won’t even need a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while measures to exclude convicted sex offenders have been rejected.
https://unherd.com/thepost/sex-not-limited-to-biological-or-birth-sex-scottish-court-rules/
editor,
The comments at the end of that report are really funny – worth reading them, as well as the article, which is unbelievable that a court could rule like that – especially when the Judge is a woman, LOL!
Dear Friends
This diabolical filth and rationally perverse madness keeps rolling along. It clearly demonstrates to me the extent to which Satan has truly clouded the hearts and minds of these politicians and their followers in wider Scottish culture and society.
It is all a clear rejection of the divine mandate regarding authentic human anthropology and sexuality.
One now asks the question Where is the public voice of the Church in all this?
Ave Maria!
Every blessing
Michael 🙏
Michael,
Where is the public voice of the Church in all this?
Where, indeed.
The looming reign of the Antichrist continues to gather strength, as we get closer and closer to hell on earth (Lucifer’s dream) – and why is it that the nations of the UK are always in the forefront of this depravity?
Only Heaven on earth, the Catholic Church, has the power to stop this through the Consecration, but the Church’s true voice has been silenced and instead speaks only the language of the Tower of Babel. It’s the perfect storm…and Our Lord is still asleep in the boat.
Lord, save us, lest we perish…
RCA Victor,
Not meaning to boast or anything, but I think Scotland is the UK nation “always in the forefront of this depravity.” Honestly, we never get the credit for anything. If a Scot is a top sportsman and wins competitions, it’s reported as great news for Britain. If he loses, there will be a lot of disappointment in Scotland today 😀
So, don’t deny us the LDA (Leader in Depravity Award) …
God help us all!
Someone asked why wee Evil Sturgeon wants this Diabolical Bill to go through the ED answered it Sturgeon is the Leader Off in the Queer Marches with wee Evil Patrick Harvie as usual bringing up the Rear. Av said it before and if you Sturgeon are reading this take heed . If any of the Alphabet Mob come near my Granddaughters then THEY get their Operations Free . I have lived a Life and if i had to go to Prison to prevent any of my Granddaughters from being Mutilated by some Frankenstein Doctor then so be it . As for our useless Bishops get out of your Mansions and try and look like Catholics. At least say something either Yay or Nay . Or are you lot complicit in this Evil .Make some sort of effort if not for your Faith at least for your conscience . You are in authority for more than just banning The Latin Mass.
FOOF,
Now, what did I tell you umpteen times before? We can’t say that Sturgeon is “evil”, but we can point out that she is an “evil-doer” – there’s a subtle difference. # 1 is making a judgement on her soul, # 2 is simply commenting on her action(s). So, let that sink it, our FOOF … or else 😀
Your “operations free” comment always makes me laugh. Your Granddaughters are blessed to have such a loving Grandpa.
I have read a lot of literature regarding the aetiology of homosexual orientation. I am not convinced that homosexual persons are born that way. I am not per se opposed anyone seeking psychotherapy and counselling in order to resolve the underlying causes of their homosexual orientation. However, many conversion therapists have been charlatans. They have deceived their clients into having unrealistic expectations. Sometimes they have caused immense harm to their clients because their methods were pseudoscientific. Some of these ‘conversion therapists’ have even used it as a way to access vulnerable young men in order to sexually abuse them. Sometimes, children and adolescents have been forced into this kind of therapy against their own will.
I don’t know about that, whether the claims abut conversion therapy “charlatans” are true or based on misinformation (I’m not accusing you, just making a general point).
I found this article very interesting – it is linked on a website about this topic, so I’ll give that link as well.
https://www.therapeuticchoice.com/_files/ugd/ec16e9_93afc8986dd842d5bd07494de358dbe0.pdf
I found this at https://www.therapeuticchoice.com/
I hope it’s useful – I found it all very interesting indeed as it’s not a subject I was interested in before.
Michaela @11.33am
You are correct, there is a lot of misinformation. There are principles a can Catholic can use to judge whether or not someone is a charlatan. Any one claiming to offer a perfect cure is likely to be dishonest, because nobody is able to promise this. Not even Aardweg or Nicolosi promised this.
Secondly, a therapist must have accredited qualifications. Nicolosi and Aardweg, both Catholic, have Phd degrees in clinical psychology. A person who is self taught and who has not received any certified psychotherapeutic training is also likely to be a quack.
There are some forms of ‘psychotherapy’ which claim to be able to recondition a person’s sexual orientation through the use of erotic stimuli, i.e., pornography. This method is not permitted by Catholic moral teaching and it should be obvious to any Catholic this method would be inefficacious.
Finally, any psychotherapist who works with people with same sex attraction who themselves is discovered to be living a hypocritical double life is also likely to be a charlatan. These therapists are most likely to sexually abuse their clients.
TBH, I can’t help thinking that Catholics should be regarding this whole area as a temptation against the moral order and fighting it with spiritual means and the efforts of character, as they would resist any other temptation. Maybe that’s naïve, but that is how I see it, not go looking for therapies. As I see it, this conversion therapy bill would prevent people with same sex attraction of “transgender” issues from seeking the advice of family and friends as they would with any other issue, and that government meddling should be opposed but apart from that, I think it should not be essential for a Catholic to go to a psychologist about any of these sexual temptations.
Bernie @9:34 am
I think you are right. Psychotherapy is not always beneficial, and sometimes it can make people feel worse. In the case of autogynephilic transvestism, which I discuss in a comment above, I think chastity is an important part of recovery, if not the the most important.
This article in the Spectator puts this conversion bill as worse that the Scotland Hate Crime Bill – and that’s saying something, since that bill makes it possible to snitch on members of your own family for saying the wrong thing, i.e. the un-woke thing.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/theres-worse-to-come-in-scotland-than-the-hate-crime-bill/
It strikes me that this latest shocker from Sturgeon really does demand its own thread but I just don’t have the time nor the energy to work on it. Read this an ask yourself if this woman (Sturgeon, not moi!) is, as they say in certain parts of Glasgow “aff her heid” (tr. off her head (lit); mentally ill… deranged).
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/children-could-be-elected-to-parliament-under-controversial-snp-plan/ar-AA15hpf3?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=fef38d8899bd41e9af57051e603e5c6c
Whatever, she definitely needs help. And soon.
That’s downright ridiculous but true to form for the SNP who were keen to have 16 year olds voting for independence. They know that young people are easily influenced to campaign for a cause and they are manipulating that. They should be ashamed.
I’m beginning to think there’s method behind Sturgeon’s apparent madness. Maybe her attempts to pass crazy laws and take control of children, to name but a couple of her “madnesses” (if I may coin a plural) is all part of an effort to cover up SNP financial problems…
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nicola-sturgeon-walks-away-after-questions-on-husband-s-107-000-cashflow-loan-to-snp/ar-AA15jjHx?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=75c535eae4a44fccbcbe0866da5e20e2
Is this – possible/implied financial corruption – going to bring her down, in the end?
LOL – a financial scandal cover up – I think this has been in the pipeline for a few weeks now. I think it will be something unexpected like that that will bring down Sturgeon.
I’ve just signed this petition – recommend others do so, as well.
https://citizengo.org/en-gb/pt/207293-vote-no-gender-reform-act?
From the Scottish Catholic Media Office…
Scotland’s Catholic Bishops “gravely concerned” over Scottish Government’s Gender Bill
19 December 2022
In a statement issued today (Monday 19 December 2022) Scotland’s Catholic Bishops have expressed grave concerns over the Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Among the concerns are the fact that the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria will reduce what the bishops describe as “the opportunity for crucial healthcare, support, and protection for vulnerable individuals, including children”.
The statement also echoes the concerns of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics that the Bill is ‘unsafe’ and likely to harm young people and urges MSPs to oppose the legislation.
ENDS
Nicola Sturgeon’s deviousness is shown up in this report as to why she is pushing this bill through at this time.
https://possil.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/transgender-threat-to-womens-rights/
I don’t know if this is the right place to post this news today about the Gender Recognition Bill. This is from around an hour ago in the Scottish Parliament.