Activists and Suicide Prevention Groups Seek Bans on Conversion Therapy for Minors

NPR

Advocacy groups are pushing for legislation to ban conversion therapy for minors. Aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, conversion therapy is considered harmful by the medical community. According to the American Psychological Association, conversion therapy practices have “serious potential to harm young people because they present the view that the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth is a mental illness or disorder.” LGBT youth who undergo conversion therapy may also be at increased risk for suicide. To date, 16 states and Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have banned the practice. Groups like the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The Trevor Project are working to get legislation passed in the rest of the country.

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