NLGJA adds: "While the segment includes balance and Phillips handily challenges Cohen, the bigger problem is that the segment about whether homosexuality can be cured doesn't feature any actual homosexuals. While Lowenthal is a worthy representative of the opposition and a wonderful spokeswoman as an ally, it's always problematic when these kinds of conversations go on without having the people most effected by the legislation–gays and lesbians–represented on the panel."
UPDATED – VIDEO BELOW
In February I posted about California Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal's bill to repeal an archaic law requiring health officials to seek cures for homosexuality.
The Long Beach Press Telegram reported: "The law originally was written in 1950 and re-enacted in 1967, the same year gay men protested police brutality and harassment at the Black Cat Tavern in Silverlake, which some historians consider the birthplace of the gay rights movement. Some minor amendments were made to the law as late as 1977, but the basic language – calling for a cure for homosexuality – remains in state law. On Feb. 19, Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, introduced AB 2199. The bill would repeal Section 8050 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which declares the State Department of Mental Health 'shall plan, conduct and cause to be conducted scientific research into the causes and cures of sexual deviation, including deviations conducive to sex crimes against children, and the causes and cures of homosexuality…' Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California and bill sponsor, brought the idea in the past few months to Lowenthal's attention."
CNN's Kyra Phillips just ran a repulsive and shockingly irresponsible segment on Lowenthal's efforts in which she leads off, "Homosexuality —Is it a problem in need of a cure?"
She then brought on crackpot "ex-gay" Richard Cohen, spewing lies about how people can change their sexuality and become straight, with nobody to rebut his disproven arguments. (You may remember when Rachel Maddow ripped Cohen to shreds over Uganda).
From CNN's blog: "At 10:40 we'll talk with the State Assemblywoman who's heading up the repeal effort. We'll also talke (sic) with a leading expert on sexual reorientation, who was gay but is now married to a woman and has 3 kids."
Cohen is not an "expert" on sexual reorientation. "Sexual reorientation" does not work, as the American Psychological Association concluded in a two-year, 138-page report. Therefore, having Cohen on as an unchallenged "expert" in this field is misleading and irresponsible.
Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP…
