Dear Editor,
Bill C-6 is not worded clearly enough and may criminalize those seeking help for unwanted same-sex attraction from receiving the counseling and prayer support they personally want and are independently seeking for themselves.
The Bill should target coercive or abusive therapies like shock treatment but it should not remove the “right to choose” from someone who freely and personally wishes therapy or prayer about gender issues and should not criminalize those who provide non-abusive therapies.
While soft therapies providing emotional support may soon be criminalized, permanent and irreversible changes to identity using medication and surgeries are seen as the approved options. The latter is not the choice some would ever wish for themselves as the only default option.
I fear that Bill C-6 will only further limit and harm the people they propose to help as well as harm those who have been willing to respond to their requests for help.
-Catherine K
