MN sponsor of anti-trans bill wants gays to 'receive treatment' for 'unhealthy sexual addiction'

Republican Minnesota state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen argued recently that gay, lesbian and transgender people were mentally ill and should "receive treatment" instead of legal protections.

While speaking to WCCO radio host Chad Hartman last week, Gruenhagen explained that he was not pandering to his extremist constituents by sponsoring a bill that would force transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their "biological sex" instead of their gender.

Gruenhagen asserted that his bill was based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), which he said labels all transgender people as mentally ill.

In fact, the DSM-V was updated in 2012 to recognize that trans people suffered from Gender Dysphoria instead of "gender identity disorder,” making it clear that the state of discomfort from being born the wrong gender was not a mental illness. Like transgender people, homosexuals were also diagnosed as mentally ill based on the DSM until it was updated in 1973.

But according to Gruenhagen's misinterpretation of the DSM, transgender people have a "recognized mental disorder." And he claimed that the same was true of homosexuals, who he said suffered from an "unhealthy sexual addiction."

"I have friends who are homosexual, and I have friends who are former homosexuals, okay?" Gruenhagen said, defending his position to WCCO's Hartman. "The Centers for Disease Control — which is not a right-wing organization, I think we can all agree on that — recently came out with the report that we have between 65 and 100 million Americans that have an STD. 65 to 100 million. We’re approaching one third of our population has an STD."

"You are telling the millions of people in this country who are homosexual — and the rest of their lives are no different than me or yours — but that the reason they have described themselves as homosexual is because they have an unhealthy sexual addiction?" Hartman asked.

"Yeah," Gruenhagen insisted. "You can go on the Internet and there’s treatment for sexual addictions right here in Minnesota, whether it’s pornography or unhealthy sexual behavior. You can receive treatment for that and be free from those compulsions."

Listen to the audio below.

(h/t: The Column)