Current Bills in the States
Counseling Bans
A total of 20 states currently have laws in place prohibiting licensed mental healthcare professionals from counseling individuals for the purpose of helping them cope with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender identity issues. Proponents of these laws (referred to by FRC as Counseling Bans) say that minors need to be protected from so-called "conversion therapy," or any counseling efforts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The problem is that the definition used to define conversion therapy is extremely broad. Laws that ban counseling for this population also sweep up patient-directed care and general talk therapy, which might include counseling with a child to come to terms with his or her biological sex. While pain-inducing methods have been associated with the idea of “conversion therapy” and are highly unethical and should be stopped, this doesn’t mean that a patient should be prevented from addressing unwanted desires through regular talk therapy. These laws squarely target talk therapy and have the effect of limiting the freedoms of licensed mental healthcare professionals and patient choice.
Scroll through the list below to see counseling bans introduced in the United States this year.
If your state has an external link, click to take action and send a letter to your state legislators!
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