Imagine being stuck in a cycle of depression or an unhealthy relationship and not being able to get help. Well, people in 13 states don’t have to imagine it. Thanks to a string of bad laws, something as simple as sitting down and talking to a counselor of your choice about your struggles with sexuality isn’t allowed. And if the far Left had its way, Maine would have been the latest to join the club. Fortunately, Gov. Paul LePage (R) had other plans.

The state motto of Maine is “Dirigo” — Latin for “I guide.” And in a raging debate over Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE), the state’s leader did exactly that. After watching other legislatures fall like dominos in the outrageous push to outlaw talk therapy on gender and sex issues, LePage became the first governor on either side to put his foot down. In a two-page veto announcement, the governor did what no others have had the courage to do: stood up to the activist bullies and their junk “research” about the dangers of routine counseling.

“I am vetoing LD 912 because it is bad public policy,” he explained bluntly. Among other things, he rejects the idea that professionals like counselors need to be regulated beyond what they already are through their licensing requirements. Like people on both sides, he agrees that people shouldn’t be abused in any way if they’ve “experienced sexual or romantic attraction toward an individual of the same gender.” But, he goes on, as this bill is written, even a simple conversation with a therapist could be called into question.

“This so broad that licensed would be prohibited from counseling an individual even at the individual’s own request. We should not prohibit professionals from counseling an individual even at the individual’s own request. We should not prohibit professionals from providing their expertise to those who seek it for their own personal and basic questions such as, ‘How do I deal with these feelings I am experiencing?’”

Gov. LePage also warns that the bill could be “interpreted as a threat to an individual’s religious liberty. Parents have the right to seek counsel and treatment from professionals who do not oppose the parents’ own religious beliefs…” And since LD 912’s supporters couldn’t produce any evidence that therapists were practicing the kind of radical “conversion therapy” the Left insists they are, LePage argues that what activists are “really trying to regulate are the private, consultative conversations between a licensed provider and client.”

Yesterday, the Left’s hopes of overriding the governor’s veto fell 15 votes short of the two-thirds majority required in the state house. Our friends at the Christian Civic League of Maine were instrumental in stopping the attack that, unfortunately, continues across the country. Lately, the other side has been on the warpath to keep people from experiencing the freedom this kind of counseling can offer. If it didn’t work — transforming lives and bringing others out of bondage — extremists wouldn’t bother. But, as a growing chorus of courageous men and women have testified, it does work. As Walt Heyer explains in The Federalist, if a ban like Maine’s or the one proposed in California had succeeded 30 years ago, he’d probably be dead.

“If [California’s] AB 2943 were in place back in the 1990s, most likely I would have died from suicide or — as this bill proposes — once I embraced my life as a trans-woman, I was sentenced for life.” He had access to two Christian psychotherapists who helped him walk away from his identity as Laura Jensen — for good. “The bill’s authors want to make sure the gender-dysphoric people they claim to be ‘helping’ have no way out, even if that’s what they desperately want. Only an uncaring legislature would sign such a draconian bill into law.”

“We who have come out of the lesbian, gay, or transgender lifestyle found the serenity and satisfaction we had desired all our lives,” he says gratefully. “Our lives are proof of the effectiveness of therapy for some individuals, regardless of what the detractors do to disparage or ban it… If some persons have a deep desire to rid themselves of same-sex attractions, shouldn’t they be allowed to try?”

Walt’s opponents — in Maine and across the country — say no. Like a lot of extremists, they don’t want to admit that change is possible because it undermines the whole linchpin of the LGBT argument: that being gay or transgender isn’t a choice. So they ratchet up their misinformation machines, insisting that all counseling is torture. But, as people like Walt would tell you, the real torture is telling people who want help they can’t have it.

FRC’s Peter Sprigg explains plenty of reasons why Gov. LePage made the right decision in his publication, “Protect Client and Therapist Freedom of Choice Regarding Sexual Orientation Change Efforts.” Also, in California, the battle is still raging over AB 2943. Before the state senate votes, make sure it’s heard from you!

Originally published here.

Defunding Planned Parenthood: All Part of the McMaster Plan

It’s an election year for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R), and he knows just how to energize voters who are tired of the forced partnership with the abortion industry: defund Planned Parenthood.

McMaster, who succeeded Nikki Haley when she became the U.S. ambassador to the UN, helped shore up his conservative support heading into November with a major stroke of his pen. Exercising his veto power over a $15.7 million chunk of the South Carolina budget, he made it clear that not a cent of state money would find its way to America’s biggest abortion business.

“I have stated many times that I am opposed to what Planned Parenthood is doing. The veto that I have is the most direct way to get the money that is going to [Planned Parenthood] for family planning services…” he explained. “Taxpayer dollars must not directly or indirectly subsidize abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. There are a variety of agencies, clinics and medical entities in South Carolina that receive taxpayer funding to offer important women’s health and family planning services without offering abortions.”

Asked by a reporter if he was worried that his decision would negatively affect other health providers, McMaster fired back, “There is concern, but the big concern is Planned Parenthood using taxpayer money for abortions. I’m going to veto that every chance I get.” Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood (which could easily make up the deficit by redirecting some of its $30 million midterm election spending) launched into its familiar sky-is-falling talking points.

Vicki Ringer, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, insisted that “there will be an increase in unwanted pregnancies, an increase in preventable cancers and an increase in abortions, which the governor says he wants to stop.” That’s interesting, since the group’s latest annual report showed a 64% decline in cancer screenings over the last seven years — despite raking in more revenue ($1.54 billion) than ever. And if anything, defunding Planned Parenthood should help decrease abortion, since the organization happens to be America’s biggest provider of them. (For all the myth-busting facts, check out FRC’s “The Real Planned Parenthood: Leading the Culture of Death.”)

For months, Gov. McMaster made defunding Planned Parenthood a key focus of his campaign. We salute him for living up to that promise and giving voters some pro-life progress to build on!

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.