Under a new law, mental health providers in Illinois will be barred from attempting to change the sexual orientation of patients under eighteen.
Chicago Democratic Representative Kelly Cassidy says attempts at changing minors’ sexual orientation can be traumatic for children and their families.
“What these so-called therapists have done to children and adults is horrific — strip naked in a group and mock each others bodies, beat effigies of your mother with a tennis racket and blame her for you being gay. This is what people are doing to young people and families and charging money for it.”
Mental health organizations, including the American Psychological Association, condemn the practice known as conversion therapy as potentially harmful.
If mental health providers continued offering conversion therapy, they could face professional disciplinary action and civil lawsuits from patients and their families.
