Voice Of Post

Obama conversion therapy, President Obama is lending support to efforts to end "conversion therapy" that seeks to change the sexual orientation of gay, lesbian and transgender youth.

Responding to a petition on the White House website calling for a ban on conversion therapy, Obama writes that "tonight, somewhere in America, a young person, let's say a young man, will struggle to fall to sleep, wrestling alone with a secret he's held as long as he can remember. Soon, perhaps, he will decide it's time to let that secret out."

Obama adds: "What happens next depends on him, his family, as well as his friends and his teachers and his community. But it also depends on us — on the kind of society we engender, the kind of future we build."

The White House petition, which has more than 120,000 signatures, calls for enactment of "Leelah's Law to Ban All LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy."

The proposed law is named for Leelah Alcorn a 17-year-old transgender youth who committed suicide in December after saying her parents had forced her to attend conversion therapy.

The petition says conversion therapies "have been documented to cause great harms and in this case, Leelah's death. Therapists that engage in the attempt to brainwash or reverse any child's gender identity or sexual orientation are seriously unethical and legislation is needed to end such practices."

Also responding to the petition, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett writes that "we share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer youth."

The "overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm," Jarrett writes. "As part of our dedication to protecting America's youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors."

From the Associated Press:

"The White House is not explicitly calling for congressional legislation to ban the therapies nationwide. But Jarrett's statement highlighted states that have outlawed the practice and expressed hope that there will be broader action.

"The White House says lawmakers in 18 states have introduced legislation similar to measures already in place in California, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., banning licensed professionals from using conversion therapy on minors.

"The American Psychiatric Association has long opposed conversion therapy, which the organization says is based on the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder."

Obama conversion therapy, The White House announced late Wednesday that it will work to ban the use of so-called "reparative therapy" -- also known as gay conversion therapy -- for young people.

The move comes in response to a petition on the White House Web site that has been signed by more than 120,000 people. The White House is also citing a particularly tragic case involving the suicide of a 17-year old who had been taking part in the therapy.

And politically speaking, they are on pretty solid ground.

Pretty much any time the topic turns to gay rights these days, Democrats hold the better hand. Of course, this is a somewhat different issue, having to do with parenting and religion and lots of other things to unpack.

This issue hasn't really been a major political one, except in the 2012 presidential campaign when there were allegations that Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) husband, Marcus, practiced this brand of therapy. He denied it.

Here are some worthwhile data points:

1) Many people still think homosexuality is immoral
While gay marriage now legal in many states and people have moved quickly toward acceptance of gay rights more broadly, many still think being gay is immoral. A 2014 Gallup poll showed 58 percent of people think it's morally acceptable to have gay or lesbian relations. But that still leaves about four in 10 Americans (38 percent) who believe its not morally acceptable.

2) Fewer people think homosexuality is a choice
Some people who think being gay is immoral still think it's the way people are born. A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted the same month as the above Gallup poll showed 25 percent of Americans think being gay is a choice -- down from 40 percent in 1994 and 33 percent in 2004. About two-thirds of Americans (65 percent) said it's just the way people are.

Of course, just because someone thinks gay people are born gay doesn't mean they don't think conversion therapy is appropriate.

Which brings us to...

3) 24 percent of people said in a 2011 survey that gay conversion therapy works
The only real good, semi-recent poll we have on this was sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign -- a gay rights group that obviously has a dog in the fight. But the wording of the question and context seem to be fair.

The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll showed 24 percent of the respondants thought gay people could be turned straight either through therapy or prayer, while 69 percent disagreed.

For what it's worth, though, the question was about the efficacy of the treatment, and not its appropriateness. People could think the treatment doesn't work and that it should still be legal, and vice versa.

All of which is to say there are likely to be people who defend gay conversion therapy and view the White House's move as an incursion into religious rights. But if these numbers and the current religious freedom debate are any indication, the White House is holding the cards here.

And in a lot of ways, the White House isn't really blazing much of a trail. After all, the American Psychiatric Association condemned the practice a whopping 18 years ago, and Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed a bill banning the practice in his state in 2013.