COLORADO: House Approves Ex-Gay Torture Ban

Colorado has become the second state in two days to advance a ban on ex-gay torture. One Colorado reacts via press release:

“So-called ‘conversion therapy’ includes a range of dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or suppressing a person’s gender identity and is based on the false claim that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) is a mental illness that should be cured or changed. While every mainstream mental and medical professional association in the country has discounted this practice, some Colorado legislators repeatedly made distasteful and scientifically dubious claims about sexual orientation during the committee hearing and on the floor.

Comparing LGBT Coloradans to alcoholics and drug addicts in an attempt to claim that LGBT people should be forced to change who they are is not only offensive – it’s dangerous. Young, LGBT Coloradans are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers – not because of who they are – but because of the rejection, harassment, and insensitive remarks they hear every day. Subjecting Colorado’s young people to conversion therapy only increases this risk.

This is an issue that those on both sides of the aisle can agree on. Already four states and the District of Columbia have passed similar legislation, banning this harmful practice, including two states with Republican Governors – Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Governor Bruce Rauner of Illinois. Colorado should follow their lead.

The bill faces a tough battle in the GOP-dominated state Senate.