“Today we took another great step to end the vile practice of conversion therapy,” Alan Kingston, co-director of the New York City-based True Colors Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to ending LGBT teen homelessness, said in a statement. “Thank you, Senators Gillibrand and Collins, and all of the leaders who made this movement possible, for bringing this dangerous practice to a close.”
As part of a statement this morning, the True Colors Fund said the decision, announced Wednesday, is a vindication of why the organization opposed the bill, which would have barred licensed therapists from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Despite widespread calls from medical and mental health professionals for Congress to reject this unfair and unscientific practice,” the statement continued, “congressional leaders who backed this legislation, a handful of lawmakers and conservative activists, tirelessly twisted the facts to make conversion therapy seem more welcome than it is.”
Senate Republicans signaled that they were open to the possibility of broader federal protections for LGBTQ youth last year. And while President Trump signed into law a similar bill that drew bipartisan support, the White House later issued a veto threat. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who introduced the bill and is a co-sponsor of the bill that bans conversion therapy, went on to complain that the administration repeatedly refused to answer her questions about its position.