GOP lawmakers are trying to force all therapists to practice conversion therapy on trans people

A group of Republican lawmakers in West Virginia filed a bill that bans gender-affirming care for young trans adults and requires state-licensed mental health professionals to practice conversion therapy on transgender people.

S.B. 194, filed by Republican state Sens. Mike Azinger, Laura Chapman, and Chandler Swope, is one of nine anti-trans bills filed in the state so far this year. It would require “any mental health care professional, counselor, or interstate teletherapy service” to stop “exacerbating gender dysphoria” for clients under 21 by “continuing such condition, delusion, or disorder with no intent of cure or cure-pursuing recovery.” Therapy that seeks to “cure” LGBTQ+ identities by turning clients straight and cisgender is known as conversion therapy.

Related:

Judge orders West Virginia to allow transgender girl to join girls cross-country team

“Forcing a girl to compete on the boys’ team when there is a girls’ team available would cause her unnecessary distress and stigma.”

The bill would also ban gender-affirming care for trans adults under the age of 21, including hormone replacement therapy, surgery, and talk therapy that is affirming of one’s identity. The state already bans gender-affirming care for trans minors, so this law would only restrict healthcare access for trans adults.

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The bill also claims that being transgender is a “sexual deviation” and compares it to pedophilia.

“It’s a one-way ticket, to do gender, what they call gender-affirming surgery care? But I call it surgery,” said Swope, one of the bill’s sponsors. He didn’t explain why he refers to all gender-affirming care as “surgery” when that kind of care involves many non-surgical treatments.

“And I think it’s just not wise to allow people at that age to make permanent life decisions,” he said of 18 to 21-year-olds, who can be saddled with student debt, marry, and join the military.

“Trans people know they are – there is nothing to cure,” West Virginia–based advocate Ash Orr told the LA Blade. “The truth is, trans people of all ages are living happy, complete, and joyful lives – this contradicts the false narrative created around our community by extremist politicians. This piece of legislation attacks our most basic values of privacy and control over our own bodies and is based on misleading or even outright false ideas.”

S.B. 195 is one of the other anti-trans bills filed in the state by Azinger. It would ban “any transvestite and/or transgender exposure, performances, or display to any minor.” The bill defines a display as something that is shown “in a manner visible to general or invited public,” which means that transgender people may be banned from appearing on television or in ads in the state if those are visible to minors.