Media Misquotes!

I read the following in a mainstream media piece in the last week or so.

Conversion therapy is based on a belief that people with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities are abnormal and should be changed so they fit within hetero-normative standards.

Although it appeared without a source being cited both in the New Zealand Herald in an article by Sophie Trigger and with the exact same wording in an article on Newshub by Mark Longley it appears to be a misquote taken from Parliament’s Justice Select Committee report into conversion therapy.

The first thing to note is that the misquote is the same in both articles, written by different people for different media organisations. It is perhaps a sign of how incetuous mainstream media in New Zeland has become. Also of concern is the fact that they both fail to acknowledge they are (mis!)quoting from the 2019 Justice Select Comittee report.

However, aside from all that. Just look at that quote again. Conversion therapy is based on a belief that people with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities are abnormal and should be changed so they fit within hetero-normative standards.

And now let’s consider the dictionary definition of normal. Normal: adj conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. Look, identifying as a pansexual unicorn is not normal. It is abnormal. Being gay, is not normal (in the sense of usual or typical), it is abnormal. Having a male body and thinking you are actually a woman is not normal. This is not hate speech. It’s a syllogism.

And the truth is, that God has designed us in a certain way. When we try to live out our ‘own truth’ or ‘identity’ apart from this, we will suffer for it. Calls to ban “conversion therapy” will cause God-fearing citizens to become enemies of the state. Our Lord is Christ, and not the state, and if our gay or transgender friends ask us for help to live as God intended, we will help them whether it is legal or not. To do so is not hate. It is love.