Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed two bills on Wednesday that ban so-called “conversion therapy.”
House Bill 4616 and House Bill 4617 regulate the actions of mental health care providers when counseling patients who identify as transgender. (RELATED: Michigan Department of Education Trains Teachers To Hide Students’ Names, Pronouns From Parents)
House Bill 4616 states that, “A mental health professional shall not engage in conversion therapy with a minor.” House Bill 4617 defines “conversion therapy” as, “any practice or treatment by a mental health professional that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including, but not limited to, efforts to change behavior or gender expression.”
The discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth is now banned in Michigan under two pieces of legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. https://t.co/Wg3ethSmSr
— The Hill (@thehill) July 27, 2023
The left-wing LGBT organization Human Rights Campaign applauded the bills, and described to “conversion therapy” as, “a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
“No one should live in fear of being subjected to the discredited and dangerous practice of so-called conversation therapy,” the HRC said in a statement, adding that the bills would make Michigan “a more inclusive and safe state for LGBTQ+ people.”
Republican state Rep. Neil Friske opposed the bill due to what he described as its overly broad definition of “conversion therapy,” arguing that it would force psychologists to “buy into the new age left-wing gender schemes.”
In 2021, Whitmer signed an executive order banning the use of state funds for so-called “conversion therapy.”