Protecting LGBTQ Minors

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 63-64

Your ABA

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SARA WADFORD/SHUTTERSTOCK

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EDITED BY LEE RAWLES

LEE.RAWLES@AMERICANBAR.ORG

In January, New York joined

14 other states and the District of

Columbia in banning the use of

conversion therapy on minors—

a controversial practice aimed at

changing an individual’s sexual ori-

entation or gender identity.

New York was also the fi rst state

to address the practice through

executive action, working with three

state agencies to ban private health

care insurers and Medicaid from

covering conversion therapy and

to prohibit state-licensed mental

health facilities from providing it to

minors .

“We have been working to ban

this practice in New York for

quite some time,” says Alphonso

David, counsel to New York Gov.

Andrew Cuomo . “The American

Psychological Association concluded

that these e orts, these ‘sexual ori-

entation change’ e orts, pose a sig-

nifi cant health risk to LGBT people,

leading to a variety of conditions,

including depression, suicide and

substance abuse.

“We have looked at this issue from

a health perspective because in at

least the last four decades, the idea

of reparative therapy, as it used to

be called, has not produced any sci-

entifi c research to substantiate the

claim that it results in a cure.”

In addition to the American

Psychological Association, many

other professional mental and

medical health organizations have

condemned conversion therapy,

including the American Academy

of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ,

the American Academy of Pedia-

trics , the American Counseling

Association and the American

Medical Association .

GUIDING THE WAY

The ABA took a stand on conver-

sion therapy in 2015, recognizing

“the basic right of LGBTQ people

to be free from harmful and inef-

fective ‘treatments’ to change the

core of who they are,” as stated in a

report attached to Resolution 112.

The adopted resolution urged gov-

ernments to enact laws that prohibit

state-licensed mental health profes-

sionals from using conversion ther-

apy on minors.

The ABA’s Commission on Sexual

Orientation and Gender Identity

continued those e orts, organizing a

Protecting

LGBTQ

Minors

ABA develops guide for drafting laws to ban

controversial conversion therapy By Amanda Robert

ABA JOURNAL APRIL 2019 || 63