NEW YORK (AP) – New York is taking steps to stop therapists from trying to change young people’s sexual orientation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday, joining a number of states that have acted against what’s known as gay conversion therapy.
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is continuing his tradition of pioneering for the LGBT community by announcing that he’ll use his executive authority to ban “conversion therapy” for teenagers. Additionally, no mental health facility licensed, funded, or operated by the state will be allowed to provide such therapy to minors.
Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, told the New York Daily News : “We have supported, and continue to support, the rights of people who have unwanted same sex attractions to seek the counselling they desire”. Centers overseen by the state Office of Mental Health would also be barred from providing conversion therapy to minors, according to the governor’s office. Laws banning conversion therapy are in place in neighboring New Jersey, plus California, Oregon, Illinois, and the District of Columbia. “With our actions here today, we aim to protect the inalienable right of self-determination for NY youth, reducing the trauma this so-called treatment can produce in the LGBT community, and helping to end the stigma that has been associated with being LGBT for far too long”.
Last year, the New York Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that would have banned mental health practitioners from performing conversion therapy on minors, labeling the practice a form of professional misconduct that could put medical licenses at risk.
Conversion therapies have always been opposed by the American Psychiatric Association; a recent federal report concluded they were “inappropriate and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes”. States including OR and IL have introduced similar legislation.
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Responding to a petition that began after a transgender teenager committed suicide after being subjected to conversion therapy, President Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett urged individual states to ban the therapy given studies showing its potential harm to those subjected to it.
