With Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature, Washington became the first state in 2018 to ban “ex-gay” conversion therapy, a “barbaric practice” opposed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, which stated in 1997 that “there is no published scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of ‘reparative therapy’ as a treatment to change one’s sexual orientation.”
According to Metro Weekly, the legislation signed by Inslee “bans the practice of conversion therapy on minors, and penalizes licensed therapists or counselors who attempt to change a youth’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” So-called “ex-gay” conversion therapy has not just been debunked by medical experts and professionals, it is child abuse that can drive vulnerable LGBTQ youth to depression, self-harm, and suicide.
In a 2009 report, the APA stated “the techniques therapists have used to try to change sexual orientation and gender identity include inducing nausea, vomiting, or paralysis while showing the patient homoerotic images.” Some get shock therapy. One survivor said his experience put him “on a devastating, decade-long course of self-destruction, as each session made me sink deeper into depression and drove me to the brink of suicide.”
Washington is the tenth state, along with Washington, D.C., to pass legislation protecting LGBTQ youth from this kind of abuse, and there’s momentum for more progress. “Bills have been introduced in 34 states, passed in over 30 cities, and nearing passage in states from coast to coast,” according to the Trevor Project, an organization focused on preventing suicide among LGBTQ youth. The groups said that “approximately 698,000 LGBT adults in the U.S have received conversion therapy at some point in their lives, including about 350,000 who received it as adolescents.”
“Banning conversion therapy sends a loud and unequivocal message to LGBTQ youth: there is nothing wrong with you,” said Sen. Marko Liias, the bill’s lead sponsor. “As a community, we love and support every person and we celebrate the diversity that makes us stronger. I am proud that Washington is standing up for our queer youth and I look forward to the day that these monstrous practices are illegal in every state.”
