Conversion therapy for minors is already illegal in California and New Jersey as well as the District of Columbia. Obama denounces 'conversion therapies' for gays

President Barack Obama will call for an end to so-called “conversion therapies” for homosexual and transgender young people.

Such therapy, which is also often referred to as “reparative” therapy, is designed to stop feelings of homosexuality or nontraditional gender identification and is often offered by conservative religious groups. It is seen by many, including the American Psychiatric Association, as harmful to the subject’s mental health.


The announcement came in the form of a statement from the president and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, posted alongside a WhiteHouse.gov petition to end such therapies. It was not accompanied by any concrete statements of policy.

The petition, which has been digitally signed nearly 121,000 times since early January, lists 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn as its inspiration. Alcorn, a transgender girl from Ohio, threw herself in front of a tractor-trailer last December, leaving behind an online suicide note in which she detailed how she had been forced to attend conversion treatment where religious therapists attempted to convert her back into a boy.

“Tonight, somewhere in America, a young person, let’s say a young man, will struggle to fall to sleep, wrestling alone with a secret he’s held as long as he can remember. Soon, perhaps, he will decide it’s time to let that secret out,” the president’s statement read. “What happens next depends on him, his family, as well as his friends and his teachers and his community. But it also depends on us — on the kind of society we engender, the kind of future we build.”

Conversion therapy for minors is already illegal in California and New Jersey (where the ban was signed into law by Chris Christie, the Republican governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate), as well as in the District of Columbia. Similar legislation is pending in 18 states.

“The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm,” Jarrett said in her statement. “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”

The news was initially reported by The New York Times.

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