A Florida lawmaker is pushing legislation that would prohibit a controversial kind of therapy aimed at LGBT youths. The bill could stop the use of so-called “gay conversion therapy” in the state.
State Representative David Richardson, D-Miami Beach, doesn’t want to call the practice his bill would fight “therapy.”
He’s talking about when a parent sends a minor to a licensed professional such as a therapist with the intent of changing the minor’s sexual orientation.
Richardson, Florida’s first openly gay elected official, said the practice harms children.
“A parent could send someone to try to get a therapist to convert them and I think it’s been shown over the years that this type of effort is not successful,” he said. “In fact, it’s almost a form of child abuse because children that have gone through this tend to have a lot more trauma later in their life in terms of that experience.”
The bill would prevent licensed professionals from that form of counseling.
Richardson pushed a similar bill in the state House last session.
California, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. have passed similar legislation.
