Legislation Introduced to Ban Conversion Therapy in Michigan

Legislation was introduced this week by Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) and State Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D-Ann Arbor) to make Michigan the 17th state to ban the use of conversion therapy by health professionals.
"Conversion therapy is not therapy. It is not grounded in science. It is immoral, it is unethical and it harming our young people by telling them that at their core they are broken, that they are wrong," said McMorrow.
Senate Bill 284 and House Bill 4515 prohibit treatments that seek to force changes to sexual orientation or gender identity for those younger than 18.
On the Senate floor Thursday, April 25, McMorrow asked her colleagues to co-sponsor the bill, telling them that young residents are taking their talents and skills out of Michigan to other states, and millennials often cite demand for communities that are welcoming and open-minded.
"This practice or lack thereof not only is not effective in turning somebody who might be gay or queer into somebody who is straight, but it is irreparably damaging. It increases self-harming tendencies, it increases anxiety and depression and rates of suicide," she said.
McMorrow pointed to 16 other states and the District of Columbia that have already banned conversion therapy — New Jersey, California, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New Mexico, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts.
"Conversion therapy is based on prejudice and has been discredited by modern medicine," Rabhi said in a statement. "It is time to end the brutal legacy of this practice, which has caused deep psychological damage for many Michiganders."
Watch the video of McMorrow addressing the Senate here.