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“We don’t want to be in the position as a party of trying to tie a human rights bill to a whole bunch of bills that have nothing to do with the human rights of these individuals,” said NDP house leader Gilles Bisson.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath called for unanimous consent to send the DiNovo bill, alone, to committee on Wednesday but was shot down.

The Liberals say they want to pass the bill before the house rises for the summer on June 4 but it needs to be part of the deal already reached with the other parties.

“In order to ensure unanimous consent you pre-agree to these things and that’s why we had a package of bills,” said Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi, accusing Horwath of “playing politics with the lives of LGBT youth.”

For their part, the Progressive Conservatives support the bill and have stayed out of this fray.

As for DiNovo, she just wants it to pass before Pride celebrations begin across Ontario later in June.

“At this point to me it’s like kids screaming at a school yard. Let’s just get it done,” she said. “This has become a political football, when really, it’s about children’s lives.”

Susan Gapka, with the Trans Lobby Group, criticized the stalemate.

“This shouldn’t be a political hot potato,” said Gapka.

“It’s really important that young people who are struggling with their gender identity or sexual identity be loved and supported,” said Gapka, adding that’s the opposite of what conversion therapy offers. She said there’s evidence that it can actually lead to depression, even suicide — as was the case with U.S. teen Leelah Alcorn. She killed herself last year and posted a letter online saying she couldn’t live in a world where her own parents couldn’t accept her as a woman. That inspired a petition that went all the way to the White House.

Manitoba just passed a similar bill, as have several U.S. jurisdictions.

National Post