Current vice president-elect Mike Pence is a known advocate of the institutional practice of conversion therapy.
Patrick Burke, on the other hand, a legislator in Buffalo, New York, is by no means a proponent of the practice. Burke proposed a new law that seeks to ban the possible use of conversion therapy on LGBTQ community members — especially youth — in his Erie County area.
One of the most notable qualities of this bill, that shouldn’t have had to be proposed in the first place, is its name: Prevention of Emotional Neglect and Childhood Endangerment — the acronym of which spells P.E.N.C.E.
Some people accused Burke of trying to be cute or simply expressed their discontent toward his bill and its name, but the legislator is quite serious about the entire matter, saying “These are serious times that we live in.”
In regard to Pence, Burke said “Mike Pence is probably going to have the most power of any vice president in the history of our country, and he has openly advocated for conversion therapy. I want that to sink into people.”
Burke believes conversion therapy is abuse. On that, and every other point he makes on the topic, I agree with him.
I tend to think a few things about people who advocate for conversion therapy: perhaps they believe it is effective, perhaps they don’t realize the actual abuse suffered by those sentenced to it or perhaps they do realize this, but merely think that LGBTQ people are deserving of that abuse.
Regardless of what they think, however, their beliefs should be their own — not a factor impacting the quality of the lives of others. They can ignore all of the logic and all of the science and all of the proof that they want; they can keep telling themselves homosexuality is a choice and a transgression against God. Yet, never should they think they have the right to force their lifestyle on to anyone — not even their own children.
I do not support conversion therapy in the slightest. Yet I won’t sit here and argue about the reasons why this practice doesn’t work, for I know that proponents of the practice will simply deny my words as they have been denying the words of far more qualified people than myself who also speak on the subject.
What I will argue against, however, is the selfishness of the entire mess. Pence, and proponents like himself, believe that the world should conform to what they want it to be. They want people to act how they feel comfortable with them acting.
Never for a second have they placed themselves in the shoes of the oppressed. Never will they think, “What if someone unlike myself and completely ignorant to the workings of my own being approached me and forced me to be like them — a being contradictory to myself?”
Sadly, we seem to be moving into a time where the people in power are by no means extraordinary examples of the possibilities of human civilization and thought. Rather, we seem to be fostering in an era of opinionated thugs who don’t know how to fact-check anything.
Simply put, conversion therapy, which has even been known to implement procedures such as electric shocks and induced vomiting to bring about discomfort to “patients,” is harmful. It helps no one and only scars them. It does nothing but empty people of the desire to be themselves. Yet it will never be able to tear them from their own being.
This isn’t “A Clockwork Orange.” Things don’t work like they do in some science-fiction novel. Pence and those like him need to understand that — though I can’t truly see them wanting to.
Jordan Marcell is a 19-year-old anthropology and studio photography sophomore from Geismar, Louisiana.