{"id":44893,"date":"2015-03-16T02:57:19","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T18:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=44893"},"modified":"2015-03-16T02:57:19","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T18:57:19","slug":"ndp-private-member-bill-seeks-to-ban-so-called-conversion-therapy-in-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/03\/16\/ndp-private-member-bill-seeks-to-ban-so-called-conversion-therapy-in-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"NDP private member bill seeks to ban so called conversion therapy in Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Health<\/a>
Health Minister Eric Hoskins (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — During her formative years as a transgender woman — or girl, really — Erika Muse says she was subjected to conversion therapy, which left her depressed, suicidal and with a mere lingering shred of self-esteem.<\/p>\n

The treatment is roundly condemned, but still practised by some, says an Ontario New Democrat seeking to make the so-called therapy illegal. Cheri DiNovo’s private member’s bill would ban any attempt to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of someone 18 and under.<\/p>\n

Muse, now 26, came out as trans at age 16 and sought treatment to both work through associated issues and get medication to help her become a woman. She was sent to someone billed as an expert in trans issues, but for the next eight years he refused to prescribe medication, leaving her in a body she hated, and did not treat her trans identity as real, she says.<\/p>\n

“The sessions were not therapeutic but abusive,” Muse says. “They led to trauma about my body and a lack of faith in myself. I often left feeling violated and hurt.”<\/p>\n

Muse says her therapist billed under OHIP — the province’s health insurance plan — not specifically for conversion therapy but for general therapy. DiNovo wants to ban conversion therapy for anyone 18 and under, and delist it from OHIP for those over 18.<\/p>\n

But Health Minister Eric Hoskins said there is no OHIP coverage for that type of therapy.<\/p>\n

He spoke in supportive terms of DiNovo’s efforts, but said there are already measures in place to crack down on inappropriate practices.<\/p>\n

“I would encourage any patient or individual that is aware of a health-care provider providing this type of intervention that they report that individual to the (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario),” he said last week.<\/p>\n

“CPSO would see it as almost certainly an act of professional misconduct.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Joey Bonifacio, an adolescent medicine specialist at the Hospital for Sick Children’s transgender youth clinic, said doctors play a very important role in the lives of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) youth, who face elevated risks of depression, substance abuse and suicide.<\/p>\n

“Very often the first people who are involved when a child or teen identifies as LGBTQ is their primary care provider,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We readily see these families with children who identify as transgendered desperately looking for guidance. I see the young adults who have depression and are cutting after meeting a homophobic therapist.”<\/p>\n

The bill, which is up for second reading at the legislature on April 2, would allow someone like Muse to bring a complaint forward and the therapist could be charged, DiNovo said.<\/p>\n

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirited or queer is who one is,” DiNovo said. “To tell a child that who they are is wrong, we consider abusive.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — During her formative years as a transgender woman — or girl, really — Erika Muse says she was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":44939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","mauthors-allison-jones","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}