This is not a religious or parenting rights issue. Banning Conversion Therapy is about protecting minors and vulnerable members of our society and even saving lives.

Many know that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in the 10-24-year-old age range but according to the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, gay/bisexual youth are three times more likely to consider suicide, and five times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. According to the Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 40% of transgender adults report having made a suicide attempt before age 25.  In a 2009 article in the medical journal Pediatrics, gay/bisexual youth who come from highly rejecting families were reported to be 8.4 times more likely to have attempted suicide than gay/bisexual youth who report no or low levels of family rejection. Multiple medical and scientific articles confirm that Conversion Therapy increases the risk of suicide, particularly in children.

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and therapist for over 20 years, I recognize Conversion Therapy as an example of pseudoscience that must be banned in the same way as practices such as lobotomy and eugenics/forced sterilization. These too were promoted as "helping" individuals and for the greater good. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not measures of health and illness any more than race or ethnicity. While individuals in our society have a "right" to hate or disapprove of other races and ethnicities, they do not have the right to harm them.  It is time to recognize Conversion Therapy for what it is and ban it for good.