While President Obama’s announcement that he would work with the states to ban “conversion therapy” was met with applause from the sexual revolutionaries on the Left, gay MSNBC anchor/activist Thomas Roberts was noticeably irritated on his Thursday afternoon show. He wanted a federal law to ban it across the nation and repeatedly advocated for it in an interview with top White House aide Valerie Jarrett.
Roberts began by recounting what he called the “huge symbolic move out of the White House” in response to a petition that circulated the net, following the suicide of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn [born Joshua Alcorn].
However, Roberts asked NBC White House reporter Chris Jansing to “explain how big of a deal this is and if there is the muster to get a bill signed by the President.” Jansing stumbled at first, then tried to talk up Obama’s LGBT record:
This is really about more I think about outreach, Thomas, this is really about the latest step by the president showing that he wants to support the LGBT community....But you've seen a whole series of things since he first came into office and it wasn't even clear that he would come out formally and support gay marriage. A lot has changed since then. Many actions in support of LGBT rights, don't ask, don't tell obviously and just more recently a new executive order has gone into effect that will allow -- won't allow federal contractors to discriminate based on LGBT.
Naturally, neither reporter decided to dwell on the fact that Obama was dishonest about his position on gay marriage for years for the sake of getting elected.
Jansing merely informed Roberts that Obama is “not looking at a federal legislation for this. This is something he wants to be handled in the states but obviously when you see this in the context of his larger outreach it's pretty significant Thomas.”
Still unwilling to let the lack of federal action go, Roberts boldly confronted Valerie Jarrett in a phone interview: “You cite there are 18 states considering the law to ban the controversial practice....what more can be done to push forward a broader policy, or is this just a symbolic move by President Obama and the White House?”
Jarrett calmly contended that the best way to fight the conversion therapy was to “try to get the word out there about the impact that this can have and the best way to get laws changed is public opinion. Right?”
Roberts was not satisfied with this answer and challenged her again, “Do you think, Valerie, though that the best way to do this is by the state level? Because there would never be a bill that would cross the president's desk for him to sign. I mean the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is not even something we can get consensus on in Congress.”
When Roberts wasn’t demanding that the federal government pass a law forcing the states to deny conversion therapy for those who wanted it, he was letting critical commentary of the practice go unquestioned and occasionally pitched in himself.
When Valerie Jarrett claimed that “scientific evidence shows that conversion therapy...is neither medically or ethically appropriate and...it could cause substantial harm,” Roberts never pooled opinion from the other side of the debate, like the Family Research Council, to contest the findings of this “evidence.”
Instead, he decided to drop the pretense of objective reporting with statements like, “many medical organizations specifically the American Psychiatric Association, says there's no evidence to support reparative therapy, that it works, other than to send kids into deeper and darker depressive places.”
It’s quite interesting that Roberts and other media personalities treat people who want to be gay as heroes who challenge sexual norms. But if a man with gay tendencies wants to become straight, they are ignored, or in this case, told that they should be pressed to avoid such “dark” places.
Transcript of the Jarrett interview is below:
ROBERTS: Joining us now by phone is Valerie Jarrett, Senior White House adviser to the President Obama. Valerie its great to have you with me. And I know that this is something that you've been very up front about because we've been seeing your tweets, we've been reading your blog posts for The Advocate. But it's in your statement about the president's support to end conversion therapy that you cite there are 18 states considering the law to ban the controversial practice. We know that it's banned in California, New Jersey, and in Washington, D.C. But what more can be done to push forward a broader policy, or is this just a symbolic move by President Obama and the White House?
VALERIE JARRETT (Senior White House Advisor): Well, thank you, Robert and it's a pleasure for me to call into your show. I know you care a lot about this issue as well. And I guess we start with the basic premise. As I said in my response, that young people should be valued for who they are no matter what they look like, where they come from, their gender, or their identity or who they love. And evidence overwhelmingly -- scientific evidence shows that conversion therapy, especially when it's practiced on young people, is neither medically or ethically appropriate and it cause, it could cause substantial harm. So our first job is to get out the scientific information.Now parents, I'm a mom, we want to do right by pare -- our children. We want to raise them to be healthy. We want to make life as easy on them as possible. And so what we want to make sure is that the information is out there about how destructive these practices can be. And just as you have spoken to many transgenders, I'm sure, who have been subjected to this therapy, so have I. And the impact on their lives is devastating. So let's get the information out there. And then what we're going to do is work state by state. And we do have 18 states now that are looking at legislation. And let's try to get the word out there about the impact that this can have and the best way to get laws changed is public opinion. Right?
ROBERTS: Do you think, Valerie, though that the best way to do this is by the state level? Because there would never be a bill that would cross the president's desk for him to sign. I mean the employment nondiscrimination act is not even something we can get consensus on in Congress.
JARRETT: Well, you know what, obviously Robert [sic], we have a lot of challenges getting the simplest legislation through Congress. We certainly would support a broader national policy, but in the meantime, we're going to work with the states. And you've seen what we've been able to get done, on a whole range of issues from raising the minimum wage to right now I'm in Chicago talking about the importance of paid leave because 43 million Americans don't have a single day of paid leave. So many policies would benefit greatly from a national policy. But in the meantime, let's work state by state. But also, let's put the information out there for medical experts.I'm going to have a Tumblr chat tomorrow with experts who are going to come and talk about this so that families who are considering this therapy for their children will have the information about how destructive it could be. And so we've got to approach this from a variety of different approaches, not just simply legislation, but also equipping people with information.
ROBERTS: Yeah, many medical organizations specifically the American Psychiatric Association, says there's no evidence to support reparative therapy, that it works, other than to send kids into deeper and darker depressive places.
