New York State will soon prohibit efforts to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity, thanks to a conversion-therapy ban that easily cleared the state legislature on Tuesday with a 57-4 vote in the State Senate and a 143-3 vote in the State Assembly.
The ban, as the Associated Press reported, has historically faced roadblocks in the New York State Senate, which was under Republican control until the 2018 midterms when Democrats regained a majority. The bill was the second major piece of LGBT rights legislation—alongside the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA—to be passed by the New York State Legislature in the same day.
A total of 15 states and the District of Columbia have now instituted bans on the medically-discredited practice of conversion therapy, while major municipalities in states without such bans continue to pass their own. The New York City Council, for example, voted to ban conversion therapy in 2017. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who in 2016 issued an executive order barring insurers from covering conversion therapy for minors, is expected to sign both the conversion therapy ban and GENDA in the coming days.
— Samantha Allen