Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on
Thursday said that he is “inclined to support” legislation that
would prohibit therapies that attempt to alter the sexual orientation
or gender identity of LGBT youth.
Such therapies go by names such as
“conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy,” “sexual
orientation change efforts” or “ex-gay therapy.”
On Wednesday, the Legislature's
Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities
approved two such bills.
Speaking to reporters, Baker, a
Republican, said that he generally supports the bills.
“They're different, so I'm not going
to speak to either one of them, but if a conversion therapy bill gets
to my desk and we don't see any other issues with it, it's something
we'd be inclined to support,” Baker is quoted as saying by The
Boston Globe, which reported that Baker used air quotes around
the words conversion therapy.
A similar bill failed to reach Baker's
desk last summer.