One of the blog readers has asked the following question:

What would be the Epicurean solution to parents who send their children to conversion therapy to try and change the gender of their transgender children? Should it be banned? Personally I think it should as in my opinion, its basically child abuse.

I totally agree with the comment. So-called “conversion therapy” should be made illegal. People who are homosexual or are not sure about their gender identity were born that way, somewhere on the spectrum between extreme male-ness and extreme female-ness. Numerous similar spectrums can be found elsewhere in nature. It must be a very uncomfortable situation, being different, and deserves understanding and kindness. Instead, religions have anathematized the non-heterosexual. There was a practical reason for this eons ago – you wanted an ever-bigger population for hunting, agriculture and defence. Now, however, it is quite the opposite; we can’t produce enough jobs for the people we have, and could soon be running short of water and food. By the end of the century world population could be 11 billion. The world religions cling to out-dated dogma in so many ways, and abuse people who cannot help their natures. There is nothing to choose between an extreme Moslem and an extreme Christian in their attitudes towards gender.

What Epicureanism teaches us is tolerance, moderation and getting on with those around us. Punishing people for things they cannot help is unjust and cruel.