The Hawaii House on Monday approved a
bill that seeks to ban 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.
According to the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, several amendments
were added to the bill in the House, sending it to conference
committee to be reconciled with the version approved last month in
the Senate.
“So-called ‘conversion therapy’
is nothing short of child abuse with life-threatening consequences
for countless LGBTQ youth,” HRC Senior Vice President for Policy
and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof said in a statement. “It is
time Hawaii join the growing number of states who are enacting laws
to protect LGBTQ youth from this dangerous and discredited practice.
We urge state legislators to swiftly advance SB 270 through
conference committee with the strongest, timely protections intact
and send it to Governor Ige’s desk.”
Similar legislation has been enacted in
Maryland, Washington, Connecticut, California, Nevada, New Jersey,
Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, New Mexico and the
District of Columbia. An increasing number of local municipalities
have also enacted similar protections, particularly in Florida. Late
last month, Milwaukee
became the first municipality in Wisconsin to enact such a ban.