Michigan Democrats want to ban 'destructive' practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth
Michigan lawmakers are taking up legislation to ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors, with a Senate committee hearing the first testimony on the bills Tuesday. Advocates and Democratic policymakers backing the bills say banning the practice will lead to better outcomes for LGBTQ+ youth in Michigan.
Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to counsel or psychoanalyze an individual into changing their sexual orientation or gender identity, per the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). There is no evidence the practice is effective, according to the AACAP, which states there is evidence the practice of conversion therapy can be harmful to children’s development. Other leading medical and psychological associations say the practice is ineffective as well, including the American Medical Association (AMA).
More than a dozen medical societies and health care associations oppose the use of conversion therapy, sometimes called reparative therapy or re-integration therapy, per the AMA.
Democrats in Michigan introduced legislation to ban conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ youth in the previous session, but the bills never received a committee hearing while Republicans held control of the Legislature. Rep. Jason Hoskins, D-Southfield, who introduced one of the House bills, said banning the practice on minors will make Michigan a more inclusive state.
“A lot of the practices that are involved are very harmful and destructive to children, like using electroshock therapy or aversion therapy,” said Hoskins, who is the first openly gay person of color elected to the Michigan Legislature.
“It’s very important because I think it's one of the tools that is in place that allows discrimination to flourish,” he added. “It's something that says, 'You need to be fixed,’ if you are a child that is either a part of the LGBTQ community or you're questioning if you are, that you're wrong, and that you need to be fixed. And that is not the case. That's why I think the practice should be banned.”
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Lawmakers drafted matching bills in the House and Senate defining what constitutes conversion therapy and banning its use on minors. Hoskins and Rep. Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield Township, introduced the House bills while Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, led the Senate version.
Many Democrats in each chamber have co-sponsored the legislation. The Senate Committee on Housing and Human Services heard testimony on the bills Tuesday.
Speakers from Wayne State University, the Trevor Project and the National Association of Social Workers Michigan Chapter are among those who testified in support of the proposed legislation.
Greg Baylor, senior counsel for the faith-based legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, testified in opposition to the bills, asserting they would violate First Amendment rights of therapists and force therapists to provide gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care is a range of medical, behavioral and psychological treatments given to patients who wish to transition, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, pushed back on Baylor's testimony, noting the proposed legislation contains no language mandating gender-affirming care, and said gender-affirming care "is used at a very different stage" for individuals wishing to transition as opposed to the minors typically referred for conversion therapy.
The proposed legislation would address only licensed therapists in Michigan. According to the Movement Advance Project, in the 21 states where similar bans on conversion therapy are in place, religious organizations are not restricted from offering conversion therapy.
Under the bills, the definition of conversion therapy would not include counseling for individuals undergoing gender transition, counseling for those coping with questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity, or interventions for unlawful sexual conduct or abuse, so long as the interventions don't attempt to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
In 2021, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive prohibiting the use of public funds for the practice.
Research on conversion therapy indicates the practice can lead to harmful outcomes for those who go through it — a 2019 study published by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, found non-transgender lesbian, gay or bisexual people who experienced conversion therapy were more likely to have suicidal ideation than those who have not.
The Trevor Project, an advocacy group focused on preventing suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, reported in May that 15% of LGBTQ+ youth in Michigan had been subjected to or threatened with conversion therapy in the past year. A spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said no state agency tracks data on how often conversion therapy is practiced in the state.
In a news release announcing the bills’ introduction, McMorrow said, “This junk science amounts to nothing more than child abuse.”
Advocates have applauded the introduction of the bills. Dakota Torolski, state organizing lead with the Human Rights Campaign of Michigan, said many of the same groups that advocated for codifying anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals in Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) are also lobbying for a ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors.
“LGBT+ youth are an already vulnerable population, so we need to continue doing everything we can to ensure we're protecting them from these disproven, and frankly cruel, anti-LGBT+ policies,” Torolski said.
Hoskins is confident the bills will eventually pass the Legislature and head to Whitmer’s desk for signature. While the bills didn’t advance under Republican leadership, Hoskins hopes his Republican colleagues will support the legislation when it comes up for a vote.
“I think this is something that we can all get behind,” he said. “When so many major medical and mental health groups come out against this, I think this is something that I hope people will be able to get on board with. But you never know.”
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Senate panel to consider bills banning conversion therapy
