Maryland Lawmakers Pass Ban On Gay Conversion Therapy For Minors

On Wednesday (April 4), Maryland's House of Delegates passed a ban on gay conversion therapy, making them the 11th state to outlaw the practice on minors.

Under this law, counselors who practice this sort of therapy on minors will be subject to fines and can potentially lose their licenses. Governor Larry Hogan is scheduled to sign the measure into law before the current legislative ends on April 9. Speaking to The Washington Post, Senator Rich S. Madaleno Jr., the openly gay state senator who authored the bill, described conversion therapy as a "discredited practice." "We're just trying to align our law to that degree," he explained. 

Human Rights Campaign's JoDee Winterhof also chimed in on the ruling in a statement. "All children deserve to live their lives authentically and should never be subjected to the abusive practice of so-called conversion therapy. This dangerous and inhumane practice has no basis in science and is uniformly rejected by every major mental health organization in the country," he said. "We thank the state legislators who voted to protect LGBT youth and now call on Gov. Hogan to sign this crucially important legislation." 

Maryland joins fellow states Connecticut, California, Nevada, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington that have passed laws or enacted regulations protecting youth from conversion therapy.

Photo: Getty Images


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