Federal government prepares to introduce nationwide conversion therapy ban
The far-left Liberal Party committed to bringing forward the changes in its 2019 election platform regardless of the #PCMadness
The Liberal government will take its first steps to fulfill a 2019 campaign promise by introducing an amendment to the Criminal Code Monday to ban conversion therapy in Canada. (Adran Wyld/The Canadian Press)
The Trudeau government is set to introduce legislation Monday amending the Criminal Code to ban conversion therapy, a controversial practice that aims to change the sexual orientation, gender identity or expression of LGBTQ people.
"Evidence demonstrates that this is a practice that does not work," said Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth Bardish Chagger. "It's destructive, it's harmful and it should not exist."
Where's the evidence Minister Chagger? Show us the studies. There is evidence on this blog that indeed it does work. Yes, it needs to be regulated, but it certainly does not need to be outlawed. That is #PCMadness!
During the 2019 federal election, the Liberal Party committed to bringing forward the changes in its platform, noting that the practice is "scientifically discredited."
The party promised during the campaign to work with Canada's provinces and territories to ban the practice and highlighted that proposed amendments would specifically benefit minors.
"When you are younger, you are often dependent on your surroundings, on your family, on whoever's around you. You cannot always make your individual choices," Chagger said Wednesday.
85% of children who identify as the opposite to their biological sex,
normalize after puberty
80% of children who seek to transition sexually display signs of mental illness
It is against the law in the USA to treat them for mental illness
35-51% of transgenders attempt suicide
Again, Children almost always pay the consequences
for the madness of adults
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth Bardish Chagger says that the federal government hopes to be a "partner at the table" when it comes to working with provinces and territories to end conversion therapy across the country. (David RIchard/Radio-Canada)
A pledge to ban the practice across all jurisdictions was listed in Chagger's mandate letter, and was also included in the letter for Justice Minister David Lametti.
So far, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Ontario have adopted measures to bar the practice from their province's health care systems. Cities including Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton have also blocked the therapy.
Practice condemned by experts
The Liberal government's move comes almost one year after Ottawa rejected a public plea to end conversion therapy, which is typically administered through spiritual, psychological or counselling-related interventions.
In response to a petition that garnered more than 18,000 signatures urging Canada to outlaw the therapy, the federal government acknowledged the practice's harms but said governing it fell to provinces and territories.
In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared conversion therapy posed a "serious threat to the health and well-being" of those affected.
But the propaganda that is being fed to children in schools is itself conversion therapy with far more horrifying threats to the children.
The Canadian Psychological Association has said it "opposes any therapy with the goal of repairing or converting an individual's sexual orientation, regardless of age."
Divisions between advocacy, religious groups
Taking steps to amend Canada's Criminal Code is seen as a welcome sign of progress for LGBTQ advocacy groups.
In a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from late last year, Egale Canada — one of Canada's leading LGBTQ rights organizations — said it was eagerly awaiting "this long overdue correction" to the code.
"We intend to diligently monitor this legislative development to ensure that the legislation will be accompanied by appropriate recommendations regarding implementation," the organization wrote.
"It is critical that this legislation will meet its intended effect to protect vulnerable members of our community."
But some religious groups are wary of the proposed reform.
If the law is passed, Campagne Québec-Vie, an anti-abortion organization, said it would challenge the changes in court in the name of religious freedom.
"If a person feels uncomfortable with their sexual orientation, who is the government to tell them…[they] have no right to change their orientation?" organization president Georges Buscemi told Radio-Canada in French.
Hanna Kepka, a lobbyist with the Campaign Life Coalition, added that the legislation would mark an "unprecedented move" by the government to interfere in discussions between health-care providers and patients.
"We have to be mindful that there is freedom of speech, that there is freedom for religious rights," Chagger said. "I think it's also important that we advance legislation that works to ensure that every individual can be who they are."
Opposition support
The main federal opposition parties appear open to the initiative, though they are waiting to learn more about the Liberal bill.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said in a statement that the party would consider the proposed changes, adding that the party opposes any form of "pseudo-therapy" aimed at altering a person's sexual orientation.
The NDP is supportive of amending the Criminal Code and has previously called for a nationwide plan to end the practice.
The Bloc Québécois said it is also in favour, as long as provincial jurisdiction is respected.
In schools, teachers convert students from being normal to thinking they are trans. This is what should be against the law. Puberty blockers should be against the law. Treating any child as a transvestite should be against the law. The vast majority of prepubescent children normalize to their biological sex after puberty.
Have you read any of these articles Minister Chagger?
Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: Transgender is ‘Mental Disorder;' Sex Change ‘Biologically Impossible’ Johns Hopkins was the home of the first Transgender clinic in America
The astonishing effectiveness of LGBTQ lobbying has resulted in what can be described as somewhere between child sex abuse and absolute madness. 80-95% of gender dysphoric children revert to their biological sex after puberty. To do anything to prevent that from happening is criminally immoral and should be illegal.
Canada cracks down on parental rights, flagrantly violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2nd & 3rd stories on link)
Northern Territory sexual assault court outcomes spark calls for law reform
By Lauren Roberts
The Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.
Almost one in three people charged with sexual assault in the Northern Territory over the past decade had their case dismissed or were found not guilty, prompting fresh calls for an overhaul of the Territory's evidence and procedure rules.
Data obtained by the NT Courts show in the 10 years from 2008 to 2017, 1,417 people were charged with one or more sexual assault offences.
Of that number, 428 people had the main offence they were charged with dismissed or were found not guilty; 130 people had the main charge against them withdrawn by the prosecution; 265 people were imprisoned and 282 people had their sentence partially or fully suspended.
Another 296 people charged between 2008 and 2017 are still yet to have the main sexual assault charge against them finalised or proceeded with.
'Substantial reform' needed
Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy Group director of research and law lecturer Rachael Burgin said the fact that nearly one in 10 people charged had the main claim against them withdrawn indicted survivors needed more support.
"Survivors don't feel safe to pursue their case in court," she said.
"We are ignorant if we don't recognise that survivors are well aware of what their experience in court will be.
"They are well aware that it will be a difficult process — they are not willing to be absolutely torn to shreds on the stand."
Dr Burgin said there was a need for "substantial reform" to sexual assault and consent law in the Northern Territory, including reform to existing evidence law.
"We need reviews into how sexual history evidence is playing out in rape trials," she said.
"First and foremost we need an affirmative standard of sexual consent where there is an onus on the accused person to show — if they are arguing that they had a reasonable and honest belief in consent — they should be required to show what steps they took to make sure the other person is consenting."
In late 2018, the NSW State Government ordered a review into consent laws following the high-profile Luke Lazarus case.
In October 2019, the NSW Law Reform Commission released a set of draft proposals it says will strengthen the state's consent laws and bring them into line with Victoria and Tasmania.
The draft proposals include explicitly clarifying the meaning of consent, which would include that consent is not given if a person "does not do or say anything to communicate consent".
Dr Burgin wants to see a similar change to Northern Territory legislation.
But the president of the NT Criminal Lawyers Association Marty Aust expressed concerns about that call and said sex education and open discussions about consent were more important than "overly prescriptive legislation".
"Consent at times may be a complicated concept, depending on factual scenarios and evidence in a particular case, at other times for the same reasons it may be a very simple concept," Mr Aust said.
"The presumption of innocence and the Crown bearing the onus of proving beyond reasonable doubt that an accused person was in fact aware or reckless about whether a complainant was not consenting to sexual conduct is a crucial aspect of our criminal justice system."
Prison part of the picture
There is more to this story at ABC Australia
Parents Alarmed at Washington State K-12 'Sexxx Ed' That Would Offer 'Varieties of Sexual Stimulation'
Steve Warren, CBNWashington State
A measure that died last year in the Washington state legislature's session has been reintroduced in both the state House and Senate requiring all public schools in the Evergreen State to provide "comprehensive" sex education to each student by the 2022-23 school year.
The Seattle Times reports House Bill 2184 would require school districts already providing comprehensive Sex-Ed to include information about affirmative consent and bystander training. And Senate Bill 5395 would hasten the requirement for statewide Sex-Ed to September 2021.
Currently, public schools in Washington state don't have to teach sex education. State law only requires schools to teach about HIV and AIDS prevention starting no later than the 5th grade.
Laurie Dills, who oversees sexual health education for the state superintendent's office, wants the legislature to require some form of Sex-Ed to every student from Kindergarten to the 12th grade within the next two years.
Dills told The Times that even though a recent survey found two-thirds of 9,000 eighth-graders had been taught about abstinence and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDS), "We've seen an incredibly disturbing trend with a climb in (adolescent) STD rates in our state."
Opponents to Dills' proposal include parents as well as politicians who have asked why elementary children need to know about human reproduction and gender identity.
State Sen. Brad Hawkins (R - East Wenatchee) voted against SB 5395 last year. He's also a former school board member of a local district.
Hawkins told the newspaper the legislature should leave it up to locally elected school officials rather than mandating comprehensive sex education in all 295 school districts.
"That would be a significant erosion of local control," he said. "People closest to an issue are usually in the best position to make a decision for their communities, and our school districts are not arms of the state."
But the question that's top of mind for parents is - what would be taught at Kindergarten through the third grade?
"When I looked at the curriculum, I'd be happy to read some of this stuff, but I will tell you I know that the chair would gavel me because it is completely inappropriate for me to say here. And I think that if it is inappropriate for me to say on the dais, I don't think that's something that I would want to teach a kindergartner," said Rep. Michelle Caldier (R) to John Sattgast during a radio report.
Informed Parents of Washington, a group that describes itself as "a coalition of parents dedicated to fighting Comprehensive Sexxx Education in our schools and legislation that imposes upon parental rights," is warning parents about the dangers of the legislation.
The group has posted several examples of the curriculum to their Facebook page.
"In most cases 'comprehensive' doesn't mean what we think it means. Most of us might think that means the biology of sex and the fertilization process, maybe to include some information about avoiding std's and pregnancy. In reality, though, most who promote 'comprehensive sex education' are talking about the details of sexual activity and the varieties of sexual stimulation," the group posted.
The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction conducted an online survey of the issue and received more than 10,000 responses with 58 percent of respondents saying comprehensive sexual health education should not be required in grades K-12.
Democrats say such legislation is necessary to establish equal access to sexual health information, especially with regard to "affirmative consent" and to the needs of LGBTQ students.
Joseph Grabowski is the executive director of the International Organization for the Family. He says parents in Washington state should be "vigilant and wary."
"It is unclear at present whether HB 2184 has any real chance of becoming law, but nonetheless the very fact of its consideration should encourage parents everywhere to be vigilant and wary," Grabowski wrote on the organization's website. "As this new decade progresses, we can be sure that more and more proposals like this will make their way into local and state governments' considerations. Before you know it, your kid's homework won't only confuse you with the 'new math,' but with the much more frightening and dangerous 'new biology'."
The far-and-away biggest problem that schools should be addressing in sex education is child sexual abuse in its myriad forms. A very significant percentage of kids suffer, or will suffer, from this greatest of all atrocities, and it appears it is being ignored completely by Washington State schools. The needs of LGBTQ students are minuscule in comparison.
Hopefully, both bills will die as a result of coronavirus.
Up to 450 paedophiles arrested a month in UK as internet drives ‘explosion’ of child sex abuse
..
Police ‘struggling to keep up’ with scale of online abuse and new methods used by paedophiles
Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent
While the UK hosts only a small amount of the material itself, it is the ‘the third greatest consumer in the world of the live streaming of abuse’ ( PA )
Up to 450 paedophiles are being arrested every month in the UK amid an “explosion” of online offences, a report has revealed.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) said law enforcement was “struggling to keep up” with evolving methods of child sexual abuse being facilitated by the internet.
A report released on Thursday said millions of indecent images of children were in circulation worldwide, and could be accessed from mainstream search engines in just three clicks.
It said that since 2016, British police have been arresting between 400 and 450 people a month for associated offences. Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the national policing lead for child protection, told the inquiry that up to 600 children were being safeguarded each month as a result.
But he warned that because of increasing referrals from the National Crime Agency, police were being forced to prioritise suspects thought to present the greatest threat to children.
“We are doing our best to ensure that our efforts are targeted against those individuals who will pose a contact risk,” Mr Bailey said. “We can’t arrest our way out of the problem, and we have to look at a far more holistic approach … we are at saturation point.”
He called for formal consideration of programmes aiming to prevent paedophiles from looking at the images as a potential alternative to prosecution in some cases. “I know it’s an unpalatable consideration for a lot of people, politically it’s very difficult, but I think we are dealing with an unprecedented challenge,” Mr Bailey said.
“All I see is the numbers growing, the scale of the threat growing, the number of children being abused growing and, actually, we should be having a public debate that says: what else can we do to try and meet the threat?”
The inquiry heard that while the UK hosts only a small amount of the material itself, it is the “the third greatest consumer in the world of the live streaming of abuse”.
The disturbing practice sees paedophiles pay as little as £1 to watch a child being abused live, often from the Philippines.
IICSA accused internet companies of being too reactive, and driven more by a desire to avoid reputational damage than to prioritise child protection.
It joined calls for firms to increase efforts to proactively remove uploaded child sex abuse images, including using automated programmes, before they can be accessed.
Online age verification can be easily subverted, IICSA warned, highlighting paedophiles’ increased use of sexual photographs and videos that children take and share themselves.
Professor Alexis Jay, who chairs IICSA, said: “The serious threat of child sexual abuse facilitated by the internet is an urgent problem which cannot be overstated. Despite industry advances in technology to detect and combat online facilitated abuse, the risk of immeasurable harm to children and their families shows no sign of diminishing.”
She called for internet companies, law enforcement and government to implement “vital measures” to protect children against online abuse.
IICSA heard evidence over the internet’s impact on child sex abuse during hearings in January 2018 and May last year, where victims, charities, police, the government and industry representatives appeared.
It is one strand of a wider inquiry into how institutions have failed to protect children in England and Wales from sexual abuse.
A damning indictment of Big Tech’s failure to take seriously
their duty to protect young people
The Internet Watch Foundation, which finds and removes online child sexual abuse images, said the “time has come for action”.
Chief executive Susie Hargreaves added: “There is no longer any reason not to be decisive on taking action against the predators who exploit and abuse children online. This report makes it abundantly clear there is no room for excuses. The internet industry and the government need to step up and tackle this head on.”
The NSPCC called the report a “damning indictment of Big Tech’s failure to take seriously their duty to protect young people”, referring to the child abuse being facilitated by their platforms.
A government spokesperson said: “Online child sexual exploitation and abuse is an appalling crime that the government is committed to stamping out. “We are working at pace on new Online Harms legislation which will ensure tech companies prioritise the safety of children online and are held to account if they fail to do so.
“We will also soon be publishing the first of its kind national strategy to tackle all forms of child sexual abuse.”
No comments:
Post a Comment