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Conversion therapy for LGBT youth is now illegal in Ontario.

And public funds can no longer be used to fund the purported treatment for adults. Conversion therapy claims to help cure LGBT persons of their sexual or gender identity. Now, Ontario s the second province after Manitoba to ban the so-called treatment outright.

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“Ontario will no longer allow vulnerable LGBTQ children to be subject to unethical, abusive so-called ‘conversion therapies’. Today our province is leading the way not only in Canada but internationally,” said New Democrat Cheri DiNovo who introduced the bill.

She dedicated the bill to Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old Ohio teen who committed suicide last December after being forced into conversion therapy. The bill now means it’s illegal for anyone to offer conversion therapy to anyone under 18 and OHIP funds can’t be used to pay for it in adults.

The Liberal government supported the bill’s passage and worked with DiNovo on amendments to ensure it wouldn’t bar legitimate therapy to help people who are transition or coming out as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

“The practice of conversion therapy has no place in Ontario, a province where acceptance, respect and diversity are our most cherished strengths,” health minister Eric Hoskins said.

Some critics worried the bill went too far in banning OHIP funds from such therapies, raising concerns it would prevent legitimate practices. But advocates countered this, saying only an out-right ban would send a clear enough message that conversion therapy is unacceptable.