The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday
again passed a bill that seeks to ban therapies that attempt to
change the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender youth.
The bill is identical to the one that
died in the House in January after clearing the Senate. In February,
the House approved a slightly different version. The legislation now
heads to conference committee to reconcile differences in the bills.
Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, has said that he supports such a
ban.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, cheered the news.
“No child should be put through the
dangerous and inhumane practice of conversion therapy,” said HRC
Legislative Counsel Xavier Persad. “This abusive practice has no
basis in science and is uniformly rejected by every major mental
health organization in the country. It is time for New Hampshire to
join the growing number of states enacting laws to protect LGBTQ
youth from so-called conversion therapy. We urge state legislators to
quickly send the bill to Governor Sununu’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.
California is considering a bill that
would ban the selling or advertising of such therapies. That
bill cleared the Assembly on Thursday.