House lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to ban licensed professionals who treat children and adolescents from practicing "conversion therapy," which aims to change sexual orientation, gender identity or gender behaviors.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — House lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to ban licensed professionals who treat children and adolescents from practicing "conversion therapy," which aims to change sexual orientation, gender identity or gender behaviors.

“[This bill] protects minors from this barbaric, dangerous, and discredited practice,” said Joseph McNamara, a D-Warwick, chairman of the Health, Education and Welfare Committee. More than 100 people testified in favor of the ban. “They spoke of depression, attempted suicide, substance abuse, and numerous negative outcomes from this so-called therapy,” McNamara said.

The bill (H-5277), introduced by Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence, is aimed at protecting LGBTQ youth, supporters said, at a time the community feels increasingly vulnerable under President Donald J. Trump’s administration.

“With the change in administration [in Washington] there’s a real sense that the needs of various disadvantaged groups are going to be ignored if not trampled on or outright repressed,″ said Dr. David Savitsky, associate medical director and chief child psychiatrist at Gateway Healthcare, who testified in support of the bill. “These folks need protections, and, if the feds aren’t going to do it, we have to do it for ourselves.”

The bill now goes before the Senate where identical Senate bill (S-0267), introduced by Sen. Donna M. Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket, is pending in a Senate committee. Nesselbush introduced similar legislation in 2016, but it died in committee.

Eight states and Washington, D.C., currently ban the practice: California, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico, Connecticut and Nevada.

In Massachusetts, bills to ban conversion therapy have been introduced three times but so far have failed to make it out of committee. Rep. Kay Khan, a Newton Democrat, the bill’s sponsor, said there is now a “strong coalition” of support in Massachusetts and she is confident it will pass.

“We’re trying to protect kids, families, or parents that don’t understand that scientifically - this doesn’t hold up,” Khan said. “Maybe they think they are being helpful, but they are not.”

The American Psychiatric Association found no evidence that changing gender behaviors in children affects later sexual orientation and concluded that “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, as it’s sometimes called, is ineffective and may be harmful.

If the bill becomes law, it would make it illegal in Rhode Island for licensed health-care professionals to advertise to or engage in conversion therapy for anyone under 18. It does not impact religious counselors or leaders, or adults who choose to enter this kind of program.

The measure applies to any licensed medical, mental health or human service professional, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and mental health and human services professionals.

On Tuesday, during the House floor vote, a group of teenagers and advocates gathered in the gallery, some waving handmade rainbow-colored signs.

“Freud and Lady Gaga got it right when they said ‘people are born this way,’” McNamara said. from the House floor. The audience applauded wildly, and lawmakers standing in support of the measure smiled.

Ajello said she has "not directly" heard of any professionals practicing conversion therapy in Rhode Island. But she said that the legislation makes clear that the practice is unacceptable.

Ajello said she introduced the bill at the urging of Wendy Becker, a social work professor at Rhode Island College and one of the founding board members of Youth Pride RI. With input from Becker and members from the Boston-based GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders), she said, representatives drafted legislation based on a similar bill in California.

Supporters of the bill include: Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital; the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island; and Rhode Island Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. The Rhode Island Council for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry submitted a letter outlining its opposition to conversion therapy but did not formally take a position on the bill.

The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said in written testimony that while it “fully appreciates and supports the intent behind this bill, we must regretfully oppose it because of its “potential civil liberties impact far beyond its designated intent.”

The ACLU raised concerns about “allowing legislatures wide latitude to ban unpopular medical treatments’’ and the ramifications for transgender youth. Other medical treatments, such as early intervention with hormone therapy, the ACLU’s letter said, are the subject of “some controversy of late -- within the medical profession itself…Such medical treatment could be just as subject to legislative intrusion and decision-making based on the principles underlying this bill.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article had the incorrect name of the Boston-based organization which helped draft the bill.

— larditi@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7335

On Twitter: @LynnArditi

— jtempera@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7121

On Twitter: @jacktemp