Dr. Joaquin Arambula urges, “Protect yourself from the extreme heat.”

As extreme heat grips Fresno County and California this summer, I encourage you to take preventive measures to protect yourself and your loved ones. Here are some tips and information for dealing with the triple-digit weather:

• The California Department of Public Health offers these suggestions to prevent heat-related illnesses.

• Check in on your neighbors, especially seniors and those with health conditions.

• Sign up for California ISO’s Flex Alert notifications on their website, or by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

• Follow social media accounts for animal organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Humane Society and the ASPCA for helpful tips for protecting your pets.

• See if you meet income guidelines for the California Public Utilities Commission’s Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESA) to save money on the extra energy costs associated with extreme weather.
In addition, the City of Fresno offers cooling centers when triple-digit weather hits.

Fresno County offers information for cooling centers throughout the county.

You also can follow me on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, where I regularly post updates on heat-related topics. Stay safe!

Sincerely,

Dr. Joaquin Arambula
Assemblymember, 31st District

AG Rob Bonta joins multistate fight to protect LGBTQ+ youth

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in defending a Colorado law that prohibits gay and transgender conversion therapy on children and youth. Conversion therapy is a cruel, harmful, and ineffective form of treatment that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law, which bans licensed health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors, is being challenged in a lawsuit at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Chiles v. Salazar. Today’s amicus brief filed by the 20 states supports Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy because it is not a safe or effective treatment for any condition, puts minors at risk of serious harms, including increased risks of suicide and depression, and falls below the standard of care for mental health practitioners.

“Not only is conversion therapy a serious threat to the lives and health of LGBTQ people, it’s also completely ineffective,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Being gay or transgender is not a ‘disorder’ that can or needs to be ‘cured’. I stand with my fellow attorneys general today in full support of Colorado and other states’ conversion therapy bans, which are crucial to protecting our kids and our most vulnerable residents. My office will continue fighting to ensure no child or young person is ever again put through the indignity and emotional trauma of such dangerous, ignorant interventions.”

Conversion therapy, also referred to as sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts or reparative therapy, encompasses a range of interventions that attempt to “cure” a person’s sexuality or gender identity. The overwhelming medical consensus is that such interventions are ineffective and increase the risk of suicide and lifelong mental illness. In 2012, California became the first state to enact legislation – SB 1172 – banning conversion therapy on anyone under 18 years of age. In hearings on the bill, legislators heard “horror stories” of conversion therapy, including from a woman who testified that she underwent electric shocks and was given drugs to induce vomiting at age 14 at a conversion therapy camp.

Oak Fire spreads over 6,500 acres in California

The Oak Fire, which sparked in Mariposa County Friday afternoon, has forced more than 6,000 people to evacuate.

Coming home from the gym yesterday we saw the smoke plumes forming to the north from this fire. To put this fire in perspective, at this time last year we were at 3.2M acres burned. This year we are already at 5.5M acres burned.