Arizona bill would ban 'conversion therapy' for LGBT youths

Arizona this year could become the 10th state to bar mental-health professionals from practicing "conversion therapy," making attempts to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity illegal.

Senate Bill 1160, introduced Friday by Sen. Sean Bowie, would apply "regardless of the willingness of the (minor) or the person's parent or legal guardian to authorize the conversion therapy." Regulatory health boards would decide how to punish violators.

Bowie, D-Phoenix, acknowledged the bill faces an uphill battle in Arizona's conservative Legislature, despite the wiggle room it allows for religious and other unlicensed groups.

But he said he "wanted to at least introduce something to bring attention to the issue."

"This bill aims to protect LGBTQ teenagers from a practice that really is harmful," he said. "It has been found by a lot of medical groups to not be effective."

Pima County already outlawed paid conversion therapy last year. A December poll conducted by Hart Research Associates found that 59 percent of Arizona voters would back a statewide ban, while 20 percent would not.

'People have the right to make choices'

Controversial conversion-therapy methods over the years have included administering electric shocks, inducing nausea or vomiting, or snapping elastic bands against the skin to create negative associations with same-sex attractions or urges.

More moderate strategies include hypnosis, instruction in "heterosexual dating skills," masculinity workshops and spiritual counseling.

Adults might pursue conversion therapy because they are conflicted about their identities, are desperate to maintain family ties, want to reconcile sexual feelings with their religious faiths, or hope to create "traditional" families of their own.

"Each client’s goals are quite different. Some might come in and say, 'I believe I am gay, but this is not working for me and I'd like to find a way to live in congruence with my faith and not act on this,'" said Christopher Doyle, a therapist and coordinator for the National Task Force for Therapy Equality. The coalition works to defeat bans like the one being proposed in Arizona.

"You also have clients who say, 'I started having feelings of same-sex attraction after I was abused, and I feel this problem is emotional versus sexual,'" Doyle said. "I have a problem with the term 'conversion therapy,' because it's more complex and nuanced than that. People have the right to make choices and abide by their values."

When it comes to minors, Doyle argued that activists have inflated "torture stories" about conversion therapy. He said any therapist who practices extreme strategies or promises parents a "cure" for LGBT children is part of an "unethical" minority and should be disciplined by existing regulatory boards.

"You are always going to have some parents that are extreme or bigoted. But when those parents come to me, I require that they do therapy as well, and that we do therapy as a family working on unconditional love rather than changing the child," he said.

"I have seen shifts in behavior and changes in orientation occur, because attractions are fluid," he said. "But I tell clients, 'It's ultimately not up to me what happens with your sexual attractions. My goal is to help you have healthy relationships.'"

A growing movement

This map shows the progress of efforts to ban conversion therapy nationwide, as of the end of 2017. Rainbow indicates states where a ban in effect. Green indicates where legislation is proposed. Credit: The Trevor Project

At least nine major health and counseling organizations in the U.S. — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association and the American Psychological Association — have disputed the effectiveness of conversion therapy, also known as reparative or change therapy. They say the practice is based on "questionable" science and warn patients of potential harm.

The American Psychiatric Association cites depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior as possible conversion-therapy consequences, "since therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred."

The Trevor Project, a national crisis-intervention organization for LGBT youth, also notes "increased depression, increased suicidal ideation and increased substance abuse" in teens facing conversion therapy.

"It not only tears the individual apart, but it can also tear the family apart," said Sam Brinton, head of advocacy and government affairs for the group. "If we're going to stop LGBT youth from dying by suicide, then we need to be addressing this."

Brinton, who was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after being forced into conversion therapy years ago, has pushed for state-level bans since 2012 on behalf of the Trevor Project.

After a string of defeats in 2014, the effort appears to be gathering momentum throughout the country, with both Republican and Democratic governors signing bans.

Lawmakers in Washington and Virginia introduced conversion-therapy legislation about the time Bowie did in Arizona, Brinton said. The Trevor Project expects at least three other states to propose bans in the coming weeks.

"In addition to the equality or protection argument, there is an economic argument," Brinton said. "I truly feel that this is consumer fraud if people are stealing money from hardworking Americans with the false hope that they'll be able to change."

Legal challenges to conversion-therapy bans in other states, including California and New Jersey, have been defeated, with courts disagreeing that the bans constitute a violation of free-speech or religious rights.

Trevor Project suicide hotline for LGBT youths: 866-488-7386.

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