Before the Joint Committee on Children, Families and
Persons with Disabilities
The
Massachusetts Medical Society wishes to be recorded in support of H. 140 and S. 70, An Act relative to
abusive practices to change sexual orientation and gender identity in minors.
The Medical Society has longstanding policy that is consistent with this bill:
“[The Medical Society] opposes the use
of “reparative” or “conversion” therapy that is based upon the assumption that
homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption
that the patient should change his or her homosexual orientation.”
Per
our policy, the Medical Society “believes that the physician’s nonjudgmental
recognition of sexual orientation, behavior, and gender identity enhances the
ability to render optimal patient care in health as well as in illness.”
Efforts by licensed professionals to change the sexual orientation and/or
gender identities of their patients contravene those individuals’ duty to
provide “nonjudgmental recognition” of their patients’ identities. Accordingly,
the Medical Society supports this bill, which we see as a necessary step to
protect patients from a harmful practice.
The
Medical Society commends the authors of this bill for specifying that it would
apply only to efforts to change patients’ sexual orientation and/or gender
identities, and would not apply to care that supports these patients from a
nonjudgmental perspective. MMS
strongly supports this intent to ensure that this prohibition is contained to
the egregious “conversion therapies” rather than medically acceptable therapies
that may explore issues related to gender identify.
The
medical community is committed to improving the care of patients from the LGBTQ
community—especially LGBTQ youth. This population reports a greater
incidence of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and increased
suicidal behaviors, in addition to higher instances of substance use, sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs), cancers, cardiovascular diseases and obesity.
While this bill addresses a perhaps modest driver of these health disparities,
it is an important step forward in a broader movement to improve the health of
the LGBTQ population.
