Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a
Democrat, on Thursday signed a bill that bans therapies that attempt
to alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender youth.
Such therapies go by names such as
“conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy” or “ex-gay
therapy.”
At a signing ceremony in Olympia,
Inslee described such therapies as “abuse.”
“Conversion therapy is not so much
therapy, it's abuse, and we are today prohibiting the abuse of our
children,” Inslee said. “Conversion therapy, which has caused
scars for decades across the country of something that is inhumane
and not acceptable in the state of Washington.”
Chad Griffin, president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, was
among the LGBT activists joining Inslee as he signed the bill into
law.
“For far too long, con artists
peddling junk science have been allowed to get away with inflicting
deep, lasting and irreparable harm to far too many LGBTQ people,”
Griffin said. “Make no mistake about it: So-called conversion
therapy is a child abuse.”
Connecticut, California, Nevada, New
Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, New Mexico
and the District of Columbia have enacted similar bans. Similar
bills have been introduced this legislative session in New Hampshire,
Maryland and Virginia. An increasing number of local municipalities
have also enacted similar protections, particularly in Florida.
Earlier this week, Milwaukee
became the first municipality in Wisconsin to enact such a ban.
(Related: “Ex-gay”
therapy ban clears Maryland Senate.)