EDITOR:
To Dennis King, premier of Prince Edward Island, Peter Bevan-Baker, leader of the official Opposition (Green Party) and Robert Mitchell, leader of the third party Liberals.
As Prince Edward Island enters into a historic period of collaborative government, Pride P.E.I. sees an opportunity for our political leaders to take action, honouring the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the 25th anniversary of the first Pride March on the Island, by introducing a legislative bill that will ban all forms of conversion therapy.
In November of 2018, then leader of the third party Peter Bevan-Baker introduced a motion in the legislative assembly to ban conversion therapy on the Island. All parties gathered together to unanimously pass support for the third party's motion, and now we, P.E.I.'s 2SLGBTQ+ community, asks you to take the next step and pass binding legislation that will unequivocally ban any and all forms of conversion therapy from taking place on Prince Edward Island.
It is a deplorable state of being for all two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth to live in a world where they could be forced to take part in any number of coercive practices – under many and varied names – with the ultimate aim of having them reject their authentic selves in the name of being "cured" of their sexual and gender identification. The Canadian Psychiatric Society, the World Health Organization, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and many other organizations all stand behind the fact these practices have no legitimate science behind them, that they are neither therapeutic nor scientific, and instead put the mental health and human rights of P.E.I.'s youth at serious risk of harm.
Pride P.E.I., on behalf of all of Prince Edward Island's gender and sexually diverse community, asks you to work together, to stand with us – and to defend us – by officially banning conversion therapy from ever being practiced on Prince Edward Island once and for all.
Andrea MacPherson (director of advocacy on behalf of the Pride P.E.I. Board of Directors),
Charlottetown
