An email I sent to members of the Iowa Senate Local Government Committee, including all Republicans and Democrat State Sen. Cindy Winckler:
Good morning, Republican Senators on the Iowa Senate Local Government Committee. I wanted to write you an email in support of Senate File 2037. This bill is going to be labeled as controversial, bigoted and perhaps hateful by the media, but it is actually caring and compassionate.
This bill will do a few different things, but one of them is it will block cities and counties from enforcing unconstitutional counseling bans. The media and the Left will call it “conversion therapy,” and they will pretend somewhere in Iowa a child is hooked up to some shock system that is attempting to “shock” them away from being gay and into being straight. But these bans don’t just ban therapy that I’m pretty certain is likely already outlawed in Iowa – abusive therapy. These bans also include TALK THERAPY.
These bans state that if a child is confused about their gender identity or sexual orientation, a licensed provider in that jurisdiction CANNOT provide counseling UNLESS the counseling AFFIRMS the confusion. On its face, this is viewpoint discrimination.
I have covered this issue for the last few years because it concerns me greatly. Here is why.
A few years ago the Ames School District hosted “Black Lives Matter Week of Action.” During this week, preschool children were told they could “choose to be a boy, a girl, both, neither or something else.” I emailed the Ames School Board by the way to ask them what some examples of those “something else” might be and to this day I have not received one response.
But I want you to read what those preschoolers were told one more time… “choose to be a boy, a girl, both, neither or something else.” One last time – the operative word – CHOOSE.
Right there in plain sight we see a liberal admission that gender identity is a choice. Don’t take my word for it, just check out their own materials!
Yet we know Democrats will say you can’t “change” your orientation. Just like you can’t “change” your gender – you can just “affirm” it.
Of course, the problem with believing people cannot “change” their sexual attractions is the existence of people who have, indeed, changed their sexual attractions. From straight to gay. From gay to straight. I know people personally who have made such a change, including Chris Rose who lives here near Des Moines. Including my friend Pastor Jim Domen who has a ministry that highlights individuals who have made the change. Check out his website if you are interested in such stories!
During Wednesday’s subcommittee, Sen. Guth asked Sen. Quirmbach if he would be interested in hearing personal testimonies of such individuals after Quirmbach said you cannot change a person’s sexual orientation. Quirmbach said he is only interested in published studies. His quote was:
“Anecdotes are not data.”
Well, I hope someone lets Sen. Quirmbach know that anecdotes may indeed not be data, but they are people. They are stories of individuals. They are stories of people who have changed. They are stories of men who became fathers. They are stories of women who became mothers. I want you to really consider reading the story about Pastor Jim Domen. It is truly a work of God.
However, I know you are all busy. So if you don’t have time to read the story, please just look at the photo attached to this email. That is Pastor Jim and his wife and his kids. His kids are only around because, despite what Sen. Quirmbach might believe, redemption is possible. Pastor Jim is not “data.” Pastor Jim’s children – Aliah, Ryker and Asher – aren’t the conclusion of some published study.
They are more than that. They’re more than data. They’re more than a study. They are people.
It blows me away that the same group of people that believes it can and should use our tax dollars and our education system to tell 4-year-old boys and girls they can “choose to be a boy, a girl, both, neither or something else” should also have the power to make it illegal for a parent to find the counseling he or she desires for their child when those lessons of confusion take root in a child and feelings of confusion emerge.
Think about that. This agenda wants to teach kids these confusing things and then make it illegal to get help when the child’s own confusion comes to the surface.
Unless, of course, the counselor will AFFIRM what that same agenda wants.
Indoctrinate the kids.
Confuse the kids.
Then, when a kid needs counseling due to the confusion, make it illegal to receive.
If you need one more reason to support such a bill, here’s one. Democrats are concerned about “home rule” and “local control” on this. Interesting choice of words.
How about home rule. HOME rule. How about letting the mom and the dad who are in the home with the child decide what counseling is best? How about letting the mom and the dad who literally live with the child decide? Nobody is more “local” to a child than their parent.
This bill is yet one more way our state is protecting and preserving parental rights.
I appreciate you all taking the time to read this and I hope that you will support Senate File 2037 in full committee and then enthusiastically on the floor of the Senate.
Have safe trips home and enjoy the weekend!”
