'Flawed practice': New York moves to stop conversion therapy for youths
US News
‘Flawed practice’: New York moves to stop conversion therapy for youths
New York is taking steps to stop therapists from trying to change young people’s sexual orientation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday, joining a number of states that have acted against what’s known as gay conversion therapy. Using executive power in a state where legislative bids to ban the therapy have stalled, Cuomo announced planned regulations that would bar insurance coverage for the therapy for minors and prohibit mental health facilities under state Office of Mental Health jurisdiction from offering it to minors.
Conversion therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice [that punishes people] for simply being who they are.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
The Democratic governor’s move comes as gay rights advocates have campaigned state by state with mixed results to try to ban a practice that major mental health organizations have repudiated. The American Psychological Association and other mental health groups say conversion therapy, sometimes called reparative therapy, wrongly treats being gay as a mental illness and may make young people feel ashamed, anxious and depressed. Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration called last year for an end to the practice.
