Lawmakers take steps to ban conversion therapy in Michigan
Michigan lawmakers kickstarted the process of banning conversion therapy on minors Tuesday, targeting a controversial practice many experts say causes long-term detrimental health effects for LGBTQ youth.
Conversion therapy is the intervention to change “same-sex attractions or an individual’s gender expression with the specific aim to promote heterosexuality as a preferable outcome,” according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).
The nation’s top mental health and medical associations oppose the practice, saying it is associated with anxiety, depression and a host of other mental health issues and also puts youth at higher risk of suicide.
A 2023 survey of LGBTQ youth in the United States aged 13 to 24 by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ youth, found that 15 percent of survey respondents were either subjected to conversion therapy or threatened with it.
Michigan would be the 22nd state to ban the practice if legislation sponsored by Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, becomes law. During a Senate Housing and Human Services Committee hearing on Senate Bills 348 and 349, McMorrow said the “dangerous and widely discredited practice” would help ensure minors seeking therapy wouldn’t be shamed for their identity.
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/lawmakers-take-steps-ban-conversion-therapy-michigan
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