During an appearance on CNN's
Anderson Cooper 360, a
Republican state representative defended his vote for a plank in
the Texas Republican Party platform endorsing therapies aimed at
altering the sexual orientation of people from gay to straight.
The new plank recognizes “the
legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative
therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and
wholeness for their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive
orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of
therapy.”
When Rep. Bryan Hughes attempted to
paint the issue as undecided, host Anderson Cooper quickly
interjected, “There's really not [a debate].”
“It's really not accurate to say that
doctors are evenly divided. I can give you a list,” Cooper said
before rattling off a long list of professional medical associations
which oppose the practice.
“They represent half-a-million mental
health professionals. They all say, 'This is not a mental disorder.
It's not something that needs to be cured.'”
Hughes went on to characterize being
gay as a “mistake.”
“Everyone of us makes mistakes, makes
decisions we're not proud of. God loves each one of us and he offers
a way for us to deal with sin, with bad choices,” he said.
“Well, the fact that you view being
gay or you characterize it as a mistake or something that, you know,
should be changed, really maybe says more about your position than
what your words actually say,” Cooper responded.
Hughes insisted he was speaking about
“every one of us,” though he later added that his personal
opinion was he does not believe that being gay is “God's best for
the way we should live.” (The video is embedded on this page.
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