Overtures: PCUSA should not support sexual orientation conversion therapies By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Wednesday, June 2, 1999 Calling on the church to "repent of the sin of homophobia, and of all violence – physical, psychological, emotional – and spiritual, based on perceptions of sexual orientation," Overture 99-56 requests that the 211th General Assembly to direct its agencies to refrain from supporting sexual orientation conversion therapies. The overture, from the presbytery of New York City, requests that the Assembly "direct all agencies of the General Assembly, and strongly encourage synods, presbyteries, congregations, and affiliated educational institutions, to refrain from supporting, implementing, or sponsoring therapies or ministries that attempt to alter a person's sexual orientation." It also calls on the church to educate its members about the "harm done by prejudice based on sexual orientation," and to develop resources addressing the "prevalence of societal violence directed against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons and the church's complicity therein." The overture asks that all ministers of the Word and Sacrament, clerks of sessions, and presbytery and synod stated clerks be informed of the decision in a letter from the stated clerk. The overture cites as its main authority the American Psychological Association, which recently published an article in the APA Psychological Bulletin ([1998], Vol. 124, No. 1, pp. 22-53) maintaining that sex between children and adults is not harmful and, in fact, can be a positive experience for the child. The overture says that "homosexuality is not considered a disease by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, or the American Academy of Pediatrics," and that "no scientific evidence exists to support the effectiveness of any conversion therapies that try to change orientation, (American Psychological Association Fact Sheet on Reparative Therapy)." The presbyteries of Genesee Valley and Chicago have concurred with Overture 99-56. A second overture The Presbytery of Detroit has also overtured the GA on sexual orientation conversion therapies, but Overture 99-34 does not contain the call to refrain from supporting, implementing or sponsoring sexual orientation conversion therapies. It, too, quotes mostly from the APA. Detroit's overture states, "The American Psychological Association has declared that 'homosexuality is not a mental disorder and the APA opposes all portrayals of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as mentally ill and in need of treatment due to their sexual orientation' (Resolution on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation)." The overture ends by saying that "The Presbyterian Church (USA) has been complicit, through sins of omission more than sins of commission, in the misinformation and hurtful rhetoric that has been promulgated in exceedingly public fora such as full-page ads in national newspapers and television ads regarding ex-gay 'therapies.'"

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