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Ban On Youth Conversion Therapy Heads To Oregon Governor

Shaundd
/
Wikimedia

Oregon lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a measure that would ban so-called conversion therapy for youth.

The Oregon Senate voted in favor of the bill, which now heads to the governor's desk.

"Conversion therapy" is the term given to the idea that counseling can convince someone to change their sexual orientation.

Supporters of the ban say teens who have undergone conversion therapy have higher rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide. The practice has been discredited by mainstream mental health organizations.

"This bill is our top priority because it protects Oregon's youth, Oregon'sLGBTQyouth, from a really harmful, outdated practice," said NancyHaquewith Basic Rights Oregon, who came to Salem to watch the vote from the Senate Gallery.

Opponents of the bill say they worry about the rights of religious groups.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week decided not to hear a case challenging a similar ban on youth conversion therapy in New Jersey.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.