An Oklahoma House committee on Tuesday
approved a bill to protect so-called conversion therapy, which seeks
to alter the sexual orientation of gay men and lesbians.
Republican Rep. Sally Kern introduced
the bill in January along with two others which target the LGBT
community.
(Related: Sally
Kern defends anti-gay bills: No right to push it down the throat of
America.)
House bill 1598, which now heads to the
House floor, seeks to prohibit lawmakers from restricting such
therapies and would protect parents' right to access such counseling
for their children.
“The people of this state have the
right to seek and obtain counseling or conversion therapy from a
mental health provider in order to control or end any unwanted sexual
attraction, and no state agency shall infringe upon that right,”
the bill states. “Parents may obtain such counseling or therapy
for their children under eighteen (18) years of age without
interference by the state.”
Citing laws in California, New Jersey
and the District of Columbia which prohibit such therapies to minors,
Kern
said that her bill was a pre-emptive measure to “make sure that
parental rights are upheld.” (DC's law is currently under
Congressional review.)
Last year, LGBT advocate the National
Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) launched its #BornPerfect campaign
to raise awareness about “the serious harms caused by attempts to
change a young person's sexual orientation or gender identity” and
call on state legislators to protect LGBT youth from “the dangerous
and discredited practices of conversion therapy.”
The 68-year-old Kern, a Baptist
minister's wife, previously made headlines for saying that “the
homosexual agenda is a bigger threat than terrorism” at a 2008
gathering of Republicans.