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03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes
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03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes
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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 26, 2012 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Abbee Smith, 108 N. Main, residing at 2925 S. Creek Road, Niles, Michigan, President <br />of Intrigue Counseling. She stated that she was born and raised here. She stated that her <br />grandfather immigrated to this country to flee the harsh regime in Russia and the <br />discrimination against his Jewish heritage. She stated that her family went on for four <br />generations raising their families here. She stated that since then her family has moved to <br />various parts of the country. She stated that she is committed to staying here and <br />sustaining her business. She believes in strategy and hard work, she stated at the end of <br />the day it doesn’t matter who loves who. She stated that Council’s time should be better <br />spent on issues such as parking, empty store fronts and crime instead of having to address <br />this issue of adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the South Bend Municipal <br />Code’s Human Rights Ordinance. She encouraged the Council to support this bill. <br /> <br />Catherine Pittman, 2628 Summit Ridge Drive, South Bend, Indiana, Licensed <br />Psychologist, stated that she is concerned that opponents to this bill think that members <br />of the GLBT Community should seek treatment to change their orientation. She stated <br />that opponents against this bill have no intent to accept gay individuals as they are or <br />accept them into this community. She stated that they also suggest conversion therapy to <br />change their sexual orientation is counter to best practices in psychological treatment. <br />Ms. Pittman stated that she has provided packets of information that the Council has <br />received that state they are against these kinds of treatments. These organizations oppose <br />these types of therapy because it is clear that sexual orientation is not a choice and that <br />attempts to modify sexual orientation can have harmful effects. She stated that sexual <br />orientation is one’s attraction to an individual of a particular sex. She stated that <br />homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality are normal variants of human sexuality. <br />She stated that they are the normal variants in many animal species. She stated that some <br />individuals do attempt to change their orientation there is no consistent evidence that <br />such attempts are successful. In fact, therapeutic interventions may result in significant <br />distress and increase depression in the individual in some studies. She stated this is not <br />that some can change their behavior as they know people can suppress a variety of <br />behaviors including sexual one or act in a specific way even when they have feelings to <br />the contrary. You can force a left handed person to write with their right hand that is not <br />disputed, but it doesn’t make the person right handed. There is no proven way to change <br />a person’s orientation. Sexual orientation for both straight and gay individuals is not a <br />conscious choice or something that can be safely modified. She noted that the inclusion <br />of bi-sexual individuals in studies and case reports does tend to result in findings that <br />confuse the issue. By definition bi-sexual individuals are those who feel attraction <br />toward members of either gender, so it’s much more likely that an individual who is bi- <br />sexual would be successful in changing his or her behavior to eliminate behaviors based <br />on same sex attraction, but such a change in behavior doesn’t mean that the person’s <br />sexual orientation has changed. The person remains bi-sexual even when he or he is not <br />acting on feelings of attraction. Opponents of this legislation appear before the Council <br />and argue that you should continue to allow individuals to be discriminated against. <br />Instead they want these people to seek treatment to change their orientation in order to <br />change themselves, to satisfy the expectations that others have of them. She asked the <br />Council to consider the views of the professionals who have studied human behavior and <br />who are committed to providing care for those in need. They do not support reparative <br />therapy and they instead argue that they recognize gay and bi-sexual individuals as <br />individuals entitled to respect, compassion, justice, and equal treatment. She stated that <br />she believes Bill 09-12 would be a step in that direction and asked the Council to support <br />it. <br /> <br />Raul Jara, 1306 Chester, South Bend, Indiana, a researcher at the University of Notre <br />Dame Latino Studies, and also served as a Census Representative for the inter-university <br />program for Latino research which is a consortium of centers and institutes at 25 research <br />universities across the country. He stated that most people opposed to this bill have <br />represented themselves as members of the loving opposition. He stated that most don’t <br />appreciate their perspective of approaching this with the word love, he however does. He <br />stated that love is something that they should be ever mindful of. He stated that there is <br />hate out there not loving opposition, but hate. It has appeared in these vary Council <br />Chambers. He stated that in the July 10, 2006 meeting minutes the first meeting where a <br />similar bill was presented. He quoted “that he owns two houses in South Bend and what <br /> 11 <br /> <br />
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