While Republicans continue their legislative assaults on the LGBT community in states all over the nation, Democratic lawmakers are attempting to protect this vulnerable population by proposing legislation to outlaw conversion therapy nationwide.
The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2017 seeks to ban nationwide the controversial and abusive practice known as conversion therapy, an attempt to brainwash, coerce, or torture homosexuals away from their sexuality and into more traditional roles of gender and sexuality.
If the bill passes, it would allow the Federal Trade Commission to classify conversion therapy and those who practice it as fraudulent.
The bill was introduced by Congressman Ted Lieu of California and Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). The bill is being supported by 70 other Democrats in Congress. As of yet, no Republicans have voiced their support for the legislation.
The practice has been banned in several states, but in most, the practice is still allowed.
Rep. Lieu explained the bill to Washington Post:
“The bill is very simple. It says it is fraud if you treat someone for a condition that doesn’t exist and there’s no medical condition known as being gay. LGBTQ people were born perfect; there is nothing to treat them for. And by calling this what it should be, which is fraud, it would effectively shut down most of the organizations.”
By allowing this barbaric form of “therapy” to continue, uninhibited by the law, the U.S. government is continuing to perpetuate the myth that homsexuality is a mental illness which can be cured. This is false, and it is a dangerous belief which can lead to the dehumanization of homosexuals, resulting in outright violence and murder.
Maybe some Republicans will recognize the basic logic of this bill and we can outlaw this barbaric practice for good.
