Chelsea Clinton slams Republicans for supporting the ‘child abuse’ that is gay ‘cure’ therapy
By Will Stroude
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill and Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, spoke out against gay conversion therapy during a speech at the Democratic National Convention last night (July 28).
Conversion therapy, the widely discredited practice of using psychiatry or spiritual counselling in an attempt to ‘treat’ a person’s LGBT identity, has been officially supported by the Republican Party, which states it supports “the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy [including conversion therapy], for their minor children”.
According to a report from The Guardian, “people who have gone through conversion therapy face 8.9 times the rates of suicide ideation, face depression at 5.9 times the rate of their peers and are three times more likely to use illegal drugs and be at high risk for sexually transmitted infections”.
Blasting the GOP’s position, Chelsea said: “The open embrace of conversion therapy in the Republican Party platform ― in other words, child abuse ― to me is the clarion call for all of us to do everything we can to elect my mom, and elect Democrats up and down the ticket.”
She described the Republican party’s official platform, which also supports transphobic bathroom laws, as “divisive, degrading, demeaning… the most regressive, least inclusive platform in modern political history.’
Meanwhile, the convention’s main event – Hillary Clinton officially accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, took place last night, with the former First Lady and Secretary of State insisting that “love trumps hate” in a speech to cheering crowds, and assuring supporters of Bernie Sanders, her rival in the presidential primaries, that their voices had been heard despite the senator eventually losing to Clinton.
Watch Chelsea Clinton’s full speech below:
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