Michigan passes bill to ban conversion therapy for minors

Michigan will soon join 21 states that have banned conversion therapy for minors after the state Senate passed legislation on Wednesday that forbids the practice.

The pseudo-scientific attempt to turn LGBTQ+ children straight or cisgender has been proven dangerous to mental health and decried by every major medical organization. The religious right frequently promotes it despite the increased suicide risks to children who are told that they are wrong and need fixing.

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“Banning it is just one less thing that LGBTQ children will have to worry about going forward in Michigan,” said state Rep. Jason Hoskins (D), the first LGBTQ+ person of color elected to the legislature, according to The Associated Press. 

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The bill now goes to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who is expected to sign it into law. Whitmer previously called the quack treatment a “dangerous practice.”

Religious conservatives have tried to fight conversion therapy bans as violations of their “free speech” and “religious freedom,” stating that people should have the right to rid themselves of “gender confusion” and “same-sex attraction.”

But the actual methods of ex-gay therapy are fraudulent. They include telling people not to masturbate, rigorous exercise, Bible study, “covert aversion” (making LGBTQ identity seem dangerous, unhealthy, and repulsive), and “reframing desire” onto “heterosexual surrogates” (re-directing sexual desire onto opposite-sex partners). Other methods include not shaking hands with anyone of the same sex and not listening to music.

“We applaud Michigan for using Pride Month to eliminate prejudice,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out, an organization that opposes so-called ex-gay therapy. “Conversion therapy is rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health association and has left a long trail of survivors who tell horror stories about conversion efforts. Most leaders of conversion therapy eventually come out of the closet as LGBTQ and warn people not to enter such programs.”

Indeed, a 2013 survey found that 84% of former conversion therapy patients said they felt lasting shame and emotional harm as a result of undergoing the pseudoscientific practice.

“No one should live in fear of being subjected to the discredited and dangerous practice of so-called conversation therapy,” said Sarah Warbelow, vice president of legal for the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement. “While it’s a shame that this practice has been allowed to take place for so long, today’s passage is just another example of how Michigan is rapidly progressing toward being a more inclusive and safe state for LGBTQ+ people.”