The Washington state House just passed a bill that would outlaw conversion therapy for people under the age of 18.
The bill would classify attempts to change a minor’s sexual orientation as “unprofessional conduct” for health care providers.
All the House Democrats voted in favor of the bill, along with twelve Republicans. The bill has already passed in the Senate, but it has to go back there for concurrence.
Supporters presented testimony from conversion therapy survivors and experts who said that conversion therapy does more harm than good.
“Questions of orientation and identity ultimately require a thoughtful evaluation,” said Douglas Haldeman, former president of the California Psychological Association.
“An understanding of people’s motivation, their background, their traumas — sure enough you’re going to uncover something where someone tried to gloss over something difficult in their life by attending to a social sanction of heterosexual identity,” he said.
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