Conversion therapy, sometimes called “reparative therapy” or “sexual reorientation,” is rooted in Freud’s idea that people are born bisexual and can move along a continuum from one end to the other. The is no single, agreed upon approach; the therapy may include the sort of thought-stopping techniques used to control anxiety and depression, as well as religious counseling.

The legislative process in some states has reflected an attempt to avoid interfering with religious liberties and parental rights by focusing only on public funds and mental health care providers. As legislators have debated the bans, many have noted during the legislative process that conversion therapy has been discredited by experts, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, and that its methods have sometimes been abusive.

Connecticut’s law, for example, banned health care professionals, or anyone else engaged in trade or commerce, from “efforts to change” a youth, while allowing other forms of counseling that provide support in a “neutral” way.

A similar focus prevailed in Nevada, where the bill was passed only after legislators changed it to clarify its intent — that the law would apply only to mental health providers, and not to pastors or other religious counselors. Governor Sandoval said such clarifications were meant to avoid interference with “religious liberties or rights of conscience.”

When asked about that change, Senator David R. Parks, the Democratic sponsor, said if a licensed mental health provider also provides counseling as a pastor, for example, “they must weigh where their professional role ends and where their pastoral duties begin,” he said in an email reply to a question.

The distinction was also made in the law signed in April by Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico. “This bill does not prohibit a minor’s ability to seek counsel, advice, or guidance from a counselor if they are trying to understand their feelings, nor does it prohibit religious organizations from freely practicing their religion,” she said in a statement after signing the bill into law.