TORONTO

A bill that would ban therapy to ‘convert’ gay and transgender children and youth has gained support from MPPs of all political stripes in the Ontario legislature.

New Democrat Cheri DiNovo’s bill would also prohibit OHIP coverage of conversion or reparative therapy for adults intended to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or questioning (LGBTQ) children and youth shouldn’t be told it would be better if they were “straight,” she said.

DiNovo dedicated her bill to American transgender teen Leelah Alcorn, who committed suicide on Dec. 28 after undergoing conversion therapy.

“Her final words were ‘fix society please,’” DiNovo said, adding her bill was also dedicated “to all of those victims who’ve been electroshocked, shamed, suffered induced vomiting, induced paralysis, told they’re not female or male enough to be female or male … to those who’ve been told that snapping an elastic on their wrist every time they felt same-sex attraction was going to make them straight.”

Bill 77 passed second reading, 52-0, and now moves to a government committee for further examination.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill, but more than half of the 107 MPPs were not present for the vote.

Premier Kathleen Wynne, the province’s first openly-gay premier, led her party’s debate on the bill.

“It’s so important that we make it clear that people have the right to be who they are in Ontario,” Wynne said. “There is no place in Ontario for conversion therapy.”

Medical guidelines for health professionals practising in the province do not support treatment that’s aim is to alter sexual orientation or gender identity, but Health Minister Eric Hoskins will send a letter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and other oversight bodies to make that point clear, Wynne said.

Hoskins has already said that there is no specific OHIP fee for conversion therapy, but DiNovo’s proposed law would make it illegal to bill the taxpayer.

Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott spoke in favour of Bill 77, as did PC MPPs Lisa MacLeod and Gila Martow.

About 41% of individuals who are transgender or gender-nonconforming have attempted suicide sometime in their life, Elliott said.

“(Alcorn’s) tragic and senseless death should serve as a reminder for everyone here of the severe consequences associated with continuing to permit discrimination in the form of conversion therapy,” Elliott said, adding she hopes MPPs’ backing of Bill 77 will send a clear message that Ontario does not support suppression of people’s true identity.

MacLeod began her speech by announcing, “I am right wing … but I support Cheri DiNovo’s bill.”

antonella.artuso@sunmedia.ca