New Jersey Senate panel considers anti-gay conversion therapy bill
A New Jersey Senate panel is to discuss a proposed bill that would ban gay conversion therapy.
The bill would ban psychiatrists, social workers and family therapists from “engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with a person under 18 years of age.”
State Assemblyman Tim Eustace, a gay Democrat from Bergen County, is the lead sponsor of the bill — which would ban licensed practitioners, even with parental permission.
Activist Troy Stevenson will tell a state Senate committee on Monday about the story of someone he knew who had been to a camp intended to make him heterosexual — he later killed himself.
Several gay rights groups and organisations set up to help young gay people will also give testimony.
However, the conservative New Jersey Family Policy Council says a ban would interfere with parents’ rights.
A petition for the bill to pass has reached 100,000 signatures – started by a teenager who found fame from his school coming out video, which now has nearly two million hits.
