The Colorado House of Representatives gave initial approval to a ban on gay conversion therapy for minors Friday, after Democrats argued the therapy is ineffective and dangerous.

Republicans contended the measure could put well-meaning therapists’ licenses in peril if conversations veered into sexual matters, as politicians make choices better left to parents.

The ban wouldn’t stop pastors or parents from talking about the issue, but it prohibits state-licensed therapists from offering the treatment.

Jayson Graves, a Colorado Springs family counselor who specializes in “unwanted attraction issues,” spoke against the measure at a committee hearing two weeks ago, recounting his own experiences as a sexually conflicted teen.

“The help I got from this kind of therapy enabled me to live the way I wanted to do life,” he said, after showing the panel a picture of his wife and children.

Benjamin Waters of the Colorado Association of Psychotherapists argued in favor the bill on behalf of 11 Colorado mental health groups.

“The dangers of conversion therapy are real,” he said. “Children who go through this therapy are at a higher risk of substance abuse, depression and suicide.”

House Republican leader Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, said legislators should consider the potential unintended consequences and predicaments for well-meaning therapists.

“The way I read this bill is that if you’re a kid who’s confused, it would be legal for me to talk to you about going toward the same sex, but illegal for me to counsel you toward an opposite-sex attraction,” he said.

The therapy already has been banned by California, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

The bill is expected to be up for a final House vote early next week. If it passes, it will head to the Senate.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joeybunch

Updated March 7, 2015, at 5:39 p.m. The following corrected information has been added to this article: Because of a reporter error, the position argued by Benjamin Waters of the Colorado Association of Psychotherapists was misreported. Waters spoke in favor of the bill.