Indiana could become the next US state to ban the practice of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy after JD Ford and Sue Errington, two Indiana Democrats, proposed bills to “make anti-LGBTQ+ practices illegal” and penalise those who “participate in [the] debunked conspiracy theory”. GLAAD defines conversion therapy as any attempt to alter a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It has been widely discredited by professional medical bodies and known to cause trauma and depression in those who are subjected to it, with around 700,000 adults in the US alone having experienced conversion therapy, leaving them six times more likely to suffer from depression.
According WRTV, a local news outlet, 20 states have banned conversion therapy so far, with a similar bill being unsuccessful in Indiana two years ago. JD Ford said: “Putting a stop to this harmful and detrimental practice can save the lives of countless LGBTQ+ Hoosiers [a term for residents of Indiana]. Our state has the chance to end this harmful and detrimental practice this year. A person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is not a disease that needs cured.”
Errington, Ford’s fellow lawmaker, added: “Most Hoosiers have never heard of ‘conversion therapy’ or think that it doesn’t happen here, but it does. I personally know some of my constituents were subjected to ‘conversion therapy’ as children and are concerned about its use on young people today. Last summer, a transgender friend of mine from Delaware County reached out to me and asked me to help end ‘conversion therapy’ in Indiana. Her plea prompted me to introduce House Bill 1213, which would end the use of this discredited practice and protect Hoosiers who are born as LGBTQ+.”