Wisconsin could become the next state to outlaw gay ‘cure’ therapy
The US state of Wisconsin could become the next state to ban the harmful and discredited practice of gay ‘conversion’ therapy for minors.
Earlier this week Connecticut’s Governor Dannel Malloy signed a bill into law banning the practice on minors.
Now a bill has been proposed by Wisconsin state Representative Amanda Stuck which would ban the practice for minors in the state.
It would ban licensed mental health practitioners from the practice of attempting to “cure” or “convert” the sexual orientation or gender identity of young people.
The bill has been backed by Appleton Alderman Vered Meltzer and Kathy Flores, the statewide anti-violence coordinator for Diverse and Resilient.
Flores told reporters: “We believe that reparative or conversion therapy is a very damaging protocol that still exists and it adds to the stress of LGBTQ people from allowing them to live wholly and fully realised lives.
“Our goal is to promote love, acceptance and resiliency, and we believe that this bill has the spirit of that.”
A similar measure was introduced back in 2014, but never made it past committee stage.
Connecticut became the ninth jurisdiction to pass laws to ban the harmful practice.
California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, and New Mexico all have laws or regulations protecting youth from this abusive practice.
Cities in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida have also enacted similar protections.
The move was celebrated by the Human Rights Campaign.
“No child should be subjected to this abusive practice,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.
“Medical professionals agree this extremely harmful and discredited practice not only doesn’t work, but can also have life-threatening consequences. We thank Governor Malloy and the Connecticut General Assembly for passing these crucially important protections for the state’s LGBTQ youth.”
The UK government last year refused to make gay cure therapy illegal.
It responded to a petition signed by 33,000 Brits asking for the process, which has been widely debunked, to make the process illegal.
US Vice President has been an advocate of the debunked therapy in the past, though he has denied that since.
The pope has also criticised attempts to stop gay cure therapy, calling it an attack on ‘religious freedoms’.
Therapy to change a person’s sexual orientation has been denounced by almost every major medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association.
