New York Finally Passed a Ban on 'Conversion Therapy' After Years-Long Efforts

That finally changed this month when the state Legislature voted overwhelmingly to bar mental health professionals from working to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

As jurisdictions across the country began solidifying protections for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, conversion therapy became part of the public discourse. In 2016, LGBT groups denounced the Republican Party for adopting a platform that seemed to lend support to the technique, which had long been discredited by the medical establishment.

Vice President Mike Pence has been particularly dogged by criticism; the groups say Pence had previously been in favor of conversion therapy, a stance that he has denied.

New York lawmakers had been proposing bills addressing conversion therapy since 2003. The measures languished until this month, when Democrats took control of the Legislature for the first time in a decade.

The Legislature this month also passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA, which would add gender identity as a protected class under New York’s discrimination and hate crimes laws.

The bills were the first pieces of LGBT-specific legislation to pass the Senate since lawmakers voted to legalize same-sex marriage in 2011, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, said.

“It was a quantum leap forward,” said Hoylman, who is the only openly gay lawmaker in the Senate and who sponsored both bills. “I hope we can build on that.”

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said he would sign both bills.

“So-called LGBTQ conversion therapy is a fraudulent practice that has done untold harm to too many young people,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo addressed the issue in 2016, when he prevented conversion therapy from being covered by insurers. A number of cities and counties in the state also passed bans, including New York City in 2017.

This year, Hoylman’s bill was passed as part of a slate of policies that Democrats are seeking to enact now that they have full control of the Legislature after winning a majority in the Senate in November.

The conversion therapy ban received strong bipartisan support, passing the Assembly 134-3 and the Senate 57-4.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.