Representative Sean Patrick Maloney

“For this writing assignment, I will be analyzing a news article about the Representative Sean Patrick Maloney. In this article, Maloney and 63 co-sponsors introduce a bill to ban taxpayer funding of “conversion therapies.” Maloney states that this bill will “ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t funding a fraudulent practice that has been roundly discredited by the medical community. That’s exactly what my bill would do.”” He believes that, until we can ban conversion therapies entirely, that we should not be spending taxpayer money on fraudulent treatment and practices that are discredited and debunked by health care professionals.

Maloney plans on doing this by cracking down on ‘misleading billing tactics’ used by Medicaid. According to this article, the codes used for billing conversion therapies do not mention the type of therapy being used because of this, most states have failed to ban the funding for conversion therapies. This article involves Maloney and every individual that was or who is still suffering from conversion therapies. Maloney claims that, “Conversion practices are discredited, harmful, and not therapy.” It does not appear that there is a specific event that triggered this bill to be introduced. However, the battle against conversion therapies appears to be an ongoing battle over the past several decades, that Maloney is attempting to put an end to by introducing this bill to ban Medicaid funding for conversion therapies. This article does not say where this event happened. However, the article states this bill was introduced on Marth 28, 2019. The aspect of human sexuality that is being addressed and discussed by introducing this bill is how gender identity and sexual orientation is a social construction that is made up by society on what is perceived as normal and natural and how sexual orientation and gender identity is not a ‘disease’ and it is not something that can be ‘cured.’

Sexual identity and sexual orientation is a social construct because it is something that society determines what is or what is not socially acceptable. Until the past decade, being anything other than heterosexual and identifying with your assigned gender was viewed as being ‘deviant’ or having a disease that needs to be ‘cured.’ Individuals that did not identify as heterosexual were criminalized, forced to have medical treatment, or were put on medication. Some individuals were subjected to conversion therapies. Conversion therapies are practices with the attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. People that are subjected to conversion therapies were forced to look at same-sex and heterosexual relationships. These individuals would be shocked or burned when viewing the same-sex relationships that way they would associate the same-sex relationships and acts with pain. For the most part, I believe that conversion therapies are not happening anymore because our society has come a long way into becoming more accepting and understanding of other peoples identities and sexual preferences and is beginning to see homosexuality as normal and natural.

However, there is no official ban yet on conversion therapies. I feel like this could be because most people are not aware that our taxpayer money is still funding this and that many people are not aware and understand what conversion therapies are. In conclusion, I think the issue of taxpayer funding for conversion therapies was addressed well in this article. Maloney and his 63 co-sponsors provided a solution by providing a bill to ban of Medicaid funding of conversion therapies. However, I do think there needs to be more awareness and understanding on where our taxpayer money is being spent and about the history of conversion therapies, how and why they were or are used, and the negative emotional and physical effects. I feel like with more of an understanding and awareness towards conversion therapies, we could start making more strides to officially banning the practice.”

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