Protecting Children From Ex-Gay Therapy Is A Matter Of ‘Liberty,’ Republican Argues

[David_42]

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Protecting Children From Ex-Gay Therapy Is A Matter Of ‘Liberty,’ Republican Argues

New Hampshire could be the next state to pass a ban on ex-gay therapy for minors, but it will be because a conservative Republican proposed it.

State Rep. Eric Schleien (R) announced on his Facebook page this past week that he would be introducing a bill “relative to conversion therapy seeking to change a person’s sexual orientation.” He openly admitted that he was inspired by the Obama administration’s call for an end to all forms of “reparative” or “conversion” therapy, treatments that try to change — or more often, reject — a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Though he is still polishing the bill’s language, he hopes to not only ban providing conversion therapy to minors, but to establish in law that it is considered fraud — that it is deceptive to advertise the therapy as useful or successful. Similarly, in New Jersey, separate from the passage of a similar ban there, a state court ruled that the Jewish ex-gay organization JONAH violated the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by marketing the supposed benefits and success stories of ex-gay therapy.

Schleien told ThinkProgress that he sees it as a liberty issue. If minors are forced into treatment programs that are “abusive and fraudulent,” that is a violation of their liberty, he explained. He applies the same “liberty” reasoning to defend his support for marriage equality. Though he’s partial to the vision of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that the government should get out of the business of recognizing marriages entirely, Schleien believes that as long as the government is recognizing one kind of couple’s relationship, it should recognize other couples the same way.