Democrats in Congress have reintroduced a proposal to ban the harmful, anti-LGBTQ practice of “conversion therapy” as Republicans are ramping up legislative and ideological attacks on LGBTQ people across the country.
The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) and Senators Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Patty Murray (D-Washington), would ban conversion therapy nationwide, following the recommendations of a large swath of health and education experts and health associations who have long recognized that the practice is unscientific and extremely harmful to LGBTQ people.
The bill would make it illegal for anyone to practice or promote conversion therapy. Twenty-two states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. have enacted regulations to protect minors from being subject to the practice, while more than 90 cities and counties have taken similar actions.
“Conversion therapy is a harmful sham that hurts LGBTQIA+ youth and turns a profit for scammers posing as mental health professionals,” Lieu said in a statement. “Numerous major medical organizations have concluded that the practice has no validity and is based entirely on fake science.”
Murray emphasized that a federal ban is long overdue.
“It is long past time we ban ‘conversion therapy’ nationwide — and I won’t stop pushing alongside my colleagues until we do just that,” she said. “So-called conversion therapy is just plain wrong — it’s based on the hateful idea that being part of the LGBTQ community requires treatment and has been thoroughly debunked by medical experts.”
The bill has over 90 cosponsors, with 62 cosponsors in the House and 43 cosponsors in the Senate. Cosponsors include prominent progressives like Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) and Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts). Murray and Booker have previously introduced bans on conversion therapy at least four times, according to a press release on the legislation.
Conversion therapy is a practice of attempting to force an individual to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. Often promoted by right-wing groups, such treatment has known links to suicidal ideation, depression and substance misuse, increasing health risks in a community already more susceptible to social isolation and abuse that increases suicide risk. Survivors of conversion therapy say that it causes lifelong trauma.
This affects a significant proportion of LGBTQ people, especially young children. According to a survey by The Trevor Project, 11 percent of LGBTQ youth were threatened with conversion therapy, while 6 percent were subjected to it. Of the people subjected to the practice, 28 percent said they had attempted to die by suicide over the past year, with 27 percent of those threatened with the practice saying the same.
Medical professionals and LGBTQ advocates have expressed support for the bill, which has been sponsored by several organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“LGBTQ young people deserve to live authentically as who they are and be protected from the dangerous and discredited practices of ‘conversion therapy,’” said Kasey Suffredini, vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project. “We applaud the reintroduction of the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which will help protect LGBTQ young people across the country from being subjected to these harmful practices and sends them a message that they are valued, seen, and celebrated for exactly who they are.”
The bill introduction, coming at the end of Pride month, comes after Democrats introduced another bill aimed at providing protections for LGBTQ people.
Last week, Rep. Mark Takano (D-California) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) reintroduced the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act to specify that LGBTQ people are protected against discrimination in areas like employment, housing, and more. The bill would codify protections granted under the landmark 2020 Supreme Court ruling Bostock v. Clayton County.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 500 new monthly donors in the next 10 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy