RE: Bill C6 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy)
Mr Warkentin,
Grace and peace to you this fine February afternoon.
I hear that you are meeting with the Grande Prairie Ministerial Association this Thursday to discuss any concerns the members may have with Bill C6, the much needed legislation to limit and almost ban Conversion Therapy in Canada. I am unable to attend that meeting but I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings on the legislation with you.
I am asking you to support the proposed legislation. I can see no moral, ethical or theological grounds for offering, providing or condoning conversion therapy. Some years ago some members of your party espoused the creation of a “barbaric practises” hotline. As conversion therapy is something that damages the mental and spiritual health of people I would list it as something reportable should such a hotline exist.
We all play many roles in our lives. As I write this letter I want to offer comments from the perspective of the two central roles I play in my life: that of a clergy person and that of a parent.
I have been in ordained ministry for 20 years this May. Before that I was raised in a family that was very active in the church. Learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ has been part of my existence since before I can remember. The Gospel has shaped my understanding of what it means to live in community with others. In the hymn to Creation that we find in Genesis 1 the ancient poet shares that humanity is created in the image of God, and that God calls that has been created very good. This tells me that wherever one may find themselves on the spectrum of sexual orientation or whatever one’s gender identity is we all carry within us the imago Dei, the image of God. Conversion therapy seems to suggest that God made a mistake in creating my neighbours who are LGBTQ+. Who are we to make that claim? At the same time the primary Christian ethical principle, indeed the primary commandment given by Jesus, is that we are to live love for our neighbours, family, friends and enemies. Openly choosing to engage in a practise that is known to be hurtful and damaging to another is in direct contravention of this principle and therefore contradicts the Gospel.
From following discussions in various other places on this issue I am aware that many of my colleagues across the country in various denominations see the ban on conversion therapy as infringing on freedom of religion. Specifically they seem to want to hold to a traditional belief that to be LGBTQ+ is sinful, that LGBTQ+ individuals are flawed, and that the church has a duty to bring them back to the correct way of being. I categorically reject this argument. To begin with LGBTQ+ folk do not choose who they are. They are born and created (in God’s image) as the person they discover themselves to be. Further, discussion of rights is never a discussion of absolutes. Rights are almost always about balancing between competing claims. In the case of conversion therapy the rights of people not to be subjected to harmful treatment far supersedes the rights of a religious institution to hold onto outdated and harmful beliefs.
I fully believe that God is still speaking to the world in a variety of ways and one of the things I have heard God saying is that traditional attitudes toward LGBTQ+ folk need to be changed. In the past the church has been very sure that God condoned racism and sexism. The church has, to a large degree, realized that this is not what God wants for the world. We have come to see the sinfulness of racist and sexist attitudes and actions. Heterosexism and transphobia are just as sinful as racism and sexism. We are called to repent of our sinfulness and take a different road forward. As a person of faith, as a person called to leadership within a faith community, I call on the church to put heterosexism and transphobia aside and see God’s image in all our neighbours. Actively working against conversion therapy is part of how we do that.
Now I speak as a parent, father of 4. This would be a role you and I both have in life, one we share with countless others across the country and around the globe. I ask you, what parent would ever want their children subjected to something that intentionally does them harm? If one of my children were wrestling with trying to understand who they were as a sexual being the last thing I would wish for them is condemnation and attempts to change them. I would want them to be surrounded by people who would support them as they discover who they are and live into that reality. That reality may be to name themselves as heterosexual, or it may be some other orientation. It may mean they claim the gender assigned at their birth or it may not. My job as a parent is to support them in who they are. My experience as a parent shapes my hope for all the children of the world. I want them to be assured of that sort of loving support as they live into who God created them to be. Conversion therapy, telling people that they need to change who they are to match some traditional understanding of what is ‘correct’, is antithetical to this vision of loving support and acceptance.
Conversion therapy damages people. Over the years many LGBTQ+ folk have suffered greatly at the hands of society members who refused to see them as the beloved children of God, made in God’s image, that they are. We have made great progress as a society, we have a ways to go yet. Banning conversion therapy is another needed step along the road to the Reign of God. Therefore I once again ask you to support Bill C6 when it comes to a vote in the House of Commons and to actively encourage your fellow Members of Parliament to support it as well.
Peace be with you.
Rev. Gord Waldie B.Ed M.Div
