This winter has been one of discontent for LGBTQs. Currently on the agenda in Madison are Senate Bill 634 and Assembly Bill 748. The pair enables the State of Wisconsin to forbid local municipalities to pass ordinances to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. In Milwaukee, there was the announcement of an HIV/STI cluster of more than 125 new cases in the past year. It made national news. And then, a Milwaukee Common Council committee recommended a local ban of conversion therapy for minors.
They may seem to be independent matters, but for LGBTQ people, they intersect. In fact, they are all part of a grander theme of cause and effect.
The Wisconsin legislative bills target people for being LGBTQ. If enacted, they could not only negatively impact the state financially, but, at the same time, they would continue an incessant right-wing attack on our community.
Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, there was the cluster of new HIV/STI infections. In response, various health organizations, including AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW), Diverse & Resilient and Milwaukee Health Department, assembled to address the calamity as if they were responsible for it. It was like hauling in the Lung Association to answer for the cigarette industry’s responsibility for cancer. In reality, organizations like ARCW grew largely in response to government inaction. It was frustrating to hear the litany of the obvious attributions for the outbreak: funding cuts, stigma, homophobia and racism. Conspicuously absent from the event were members of other influential entities, like churches.
Stigma is a major factor. For many, sexuality is a difficult subject, especially if religious or cultural influences create a barrier to the candid conversation that is necessary to achieve behavioral responsibility. The animosity towards LGBTQs results in stigma. No one wants to be an outcast. So people conform outwardly to expectations, denying who they are and, as a result, avoiding health awareness associated with same-sex relations.
Speaking of stigma, two Milwaukee councilmen’s abstentions (Ald. Mark Borkowski and Ald. Bob Donovan) during a Milwaukee Common Council committee vote on banning conversion therapy for minors is another part of the problem. Conversion therapy is a debunked, pseudo-scientific practice intended to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals based on the premise that homosexuality is a curable disease. Over the decades, its methods have spanned the spectrum from lobotomies and electro-shock to exorcism and simple counseling. All are discredited. In states where it is banned, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against challenges. Essentially, conversion therapy for minors is child abuse. But, here in Cream City, those abstaining cited religion and “government overreach” in “family matters.” It was really another act of cowardice by those entrusted with leadership.
But for that, youth are responding to failed leadership. They are neither willing to be shot down dead in the name of a misrepresented Second Amendment nor victimized in the name of some archaic interpretation of religion that includes an animus towards those who are different. We need to support them.
Change comes through voting. The next election, for Wisconsin Supreme Court judge, is coming up. Less than 12% of eligible voters participated in the primary for this race. To be fair, it rained that day. Hopefully, the sun will be out on Tuesday, April 3.
