Maryland outlaws gay conversion therapy

The House of Delegates in Maryland has passed a law on Wednesday banning all conversion therapy practices. Governor Larry Hogan is expected to sign the measure into law before April 9th.

Openly gay senator Rich Madaleno authored the bill, he told the Washington Post: “This is a discredited practice, and we’re just trying to align our law to that degree.”

Under the new law counsellors who practice conversion therapy on minors will be subject to fines, or could even have their licenses revoked. However, the law will not affect religious counsellors or unlicensed practitioners.

JoDee Winterhof of the Human Rights Campaign wrote of the groups' approval in a statement: “This dangerous and inhumane practice has no basis in science and is uniformly rejected by every major mental health organization in the country. We thank the state legislators who voted to protect LGBT youth and now call on Gov. Hogan to sign this crucially important legislation.”

State Senator Bryan Simonaire opposed the measure, saying: “I don’t think [conversion therapy] is abuse in every case. The definition is so expansive this bill could revoke someone’s license and livelihood by a simple conversation. I wonder if Jesus would have been banned if he had been licensed in Maryland.”

Conversion therapy has been proved dangerous and ineffectual on young LGBT+ people.

Tim Gibson

__________________ 

LGBT professionals, LGBT Graduates, LGBT professional network, LGBT professional events, LGBT networking events, LGBT Recruitment, LGBT Friendly organisations, LGBT Friendly companies, LGBT jobs 
__________________ 

SIGN UP to myGwork, the global networking and recruitment hub for LGBTI professionals and graduates

www.mygwork.com
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on LinkedIn