House Democrats are looking to ban “conversion therapy” nationwide in a newly introduced bill, according to reports.
The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, introduced on Monday in the House by Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu, aims to outlaw “conversion therapy” or the practice of changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
“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 press release. “Numerous major medical organizations have concluded that the practice has no validity and is based entirely on fake science. I’m pleased that many states have joined our movement and enacted conversion therapy bans. Now it’s time to end this scam once and for all and pass a federal ban.”
The bill, which has 62 Democratic sponsors, would also make it illegal to “knowingly assist or facilitate” the use of conversion therapy for the sake of profit. Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced a companion bill on Monday, and it currently has the support of 32 Democratic lawmakers.
Both laws have received support from LGBTQ rights groups and mental health organizations, such as the American Psychological Association and the Human Rights Campaign. The Congressional Equality Caucus has also endorsed the bill in both chambers.
“Professional consensus rejects pathologizing sexual and gender identities,” the American Medical Association said in an issue brief last year. “In addition, empirical evidence has demonstrated a diversity of sexual and gender identities that are normal variations of human identity and expression, and not inherently linked to mental illness.”
This comes amid a wave of laws that target queer individuals. Many of these laws, including ones intended to shield kids from irreversible treatments and surgeries and remove explicit, age-inappropriate material from public school libraries and classrooms.
LGBT activists have called these state-level proposals a direct violation of their rights. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) issued a “state of emergency” in response to the Republican-led laws.
“The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived — they are real, tangible and dangerous,” said HRC President Kelley Robinson. “In many cases, they are resulting in violence against LGBTQ+ people, forcing families to uproot their lives and flee their homes in search of safer states.”
