Ban on Conversion Therapy in NE

Support needed Feb 7th to support ban on Conversion Therapy in NE

01/30/2019 8:38 AM

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Message # 7136943
Anne Barker

Megan Hunt (Omaha, District 8) has brought LB167 and LB168, two bills seeking to ban Conversion Therapy in Nebraska, in

her first round of bill introductions (outlines of the bills are at the end of this post), and is seeking mental health

professionals and/or LGBTQ+ folks who are willing to testify in their support.

You can testify in person at the Judiciary Committee hearing on Feb 7th (the hearing begins at 1:30), or you can send a

letter of support in advance.

Interested clinicians can email Kristina at khughes@leg.ne.gov for more details. Please also pass this opportunity on

to anyone you know in our field who is passionate and knowledgable about these issues but might not see this post.

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with Conversion Therapy, it is a dangerous, debunked and abusive pseudo-therapy

that seeks to change a person’s sexual or gender orientation. There is virtually no reliable evidence that sexual

orientation can be changed and medical bodies warn that conversion therapy practices are ineffective and potentially

harmful.

The following is a (non-exhaustive) list of professional organizations that don’t endorse conversion therapy, or any

therapy that tries to convince someone their gender identity or sexual orientation is wrong:

American Medical Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Nursing
American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists
American Counseling Association
American Medical Student Association
American Psychoanalytic Association
Clinical Social Work Association

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have banned conversion therapy for minors, and Megan Hunt would like for

Nebraska to join this group by passing the following bills into law.

LB167 Prohibits Conversion Therapy for Individuals 18 Years or Younger

LB167 bans organizations from advertising or providing conversion therapy to individuals under eighteen years of age.

Conversion therapy refers to a practice or treatment by a mental health practitioner that seeks to change an individual’s

sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Conversion therapy is pseudoscience based on the idea that being

gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender is a disease that must be “cured”, and can lead to an increased risk for depression,

anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide.

LB168 Classifies Conversion Therapy as Child Abuse

Major mental health institutions such as the American Counseling Association, American Psychological Association, and

American Psychiatric Association call these practices misleading and this abusive practice has been proven harmful to LGBT

children and teenagers.