Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin recently signed into law the prohibition of licensed professionals who counsel minors from attempting to “change” the sexual orientation or gender identity of a minor — a practice also known as “conversion therapy.”
“It’s absurd to think that being gay or transgender is something to be cured of,” Governor Shumlin stated in a press release. “Our country has come a long way in a short period of time in recognizing the civil rights of members of the LGBT community, and I am so proud that Vermont has taken a leadership role at every step of the way. At a time when the rights of LGBT individuals are under attack in other parts of the country, Vermont will continue to stand up to hatred and bigotry and show the rest of the country what tolerance, understanding, and common humanity look like.”
The governor’s press release went on to say:
Conversion therapy has been widely discredited by the scientific community. A 2015 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) “found that variations in sexual orientation and gender identity are normal, and that conversion therapies or other efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity are not effective, are harmful, and are not appropriate therapeutic practices.”
Vermont joins California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. in enacting a law to ban conversion therapy. Earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced regulations to ban public and private insurers from covering the practice.
The ban on conversion therapy in Vermont takes effect July 1.
Its passage comes as similar legislation (HB 97) in Massachusetts emerges favorably from committee and is ready to move to the Bay State House’s Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling.
For more on the Massachusetts’ bill, see a fact sheet prepared by MassEquality.
