Ban on conversion therapy for minors proposed

Members of the Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony March 27 on a measure that would prohibit conversion therapy for minors in Nebraska.

LB367, introduced by Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, would prohibit credentialed health care professionals from providing conversion therapy to anyone under the age of 19 in Nebraska. A health care provider who knowingly violates the bill’s provisions would be subject to penalties under the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The bill defines conversion therapy as a practice that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change a person’s gender expression or sexual or romantic attraction toward individuals of the same sex.

Hunt said 28 states have banned conversion therapy and courts have consistently found that regulating professional behavior in the interest of public safety is appropriate. There is no credible evidence that conversion therapy can change an individual’s sexual orientation, she said, and the practice has long been discredited as not only ineffectual but harmful.

“It’s important to highlight that all of the national standard-setting organizations for the major physical and mental health professions have issued statements in support of conversion therapy bans,” Hunt said. “The national associations for school counselors, pediatricians, psychologists, physicians, nurses and social workers have all asserted that conversion therapy goes against their professional codes of ethics.”

The ban would not apply to a treatment provided by a clergy member or religious counselor who is acting in a pastoral or religious capacity and not as a health care professional.

Alex Dworak, a family medicine provider from Ralston, testified in support of the proposal. Conversion therapy has been “vehemently denounced” by the medical community, Dworak said, and allowing it to be conducted by health care professionals sends a message to the state’s queer community that they are not welcome in Nebraska.

Britta Tollefsrud, a Lincoln mental health care practitioner, also spoke in favor of LB367. A 2022 study indicated that 17% of LGBTQ+ Nebraska youth report having been threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy, she said, and minors who have undergone such therapy are more than twice as likely as other LGBTQ+ youth to report suicide attempts.

Tollefsrud said the bill would strengthen the state’s licensing requirements so that parents could know if a practitioner were engaging in a discredited therapy that can cause lasting psychological damage.

Also in support of the proposal was Out Nebraska policy fellow MacKenzie Loncke. She said the neighboring states of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri have passed conversion therapy bans in some form with bipartisan support. While many view conversion therapy as a relic of the past, she said, it continues to take place.

“Conversion therapy is not based in science, not in medicine and not in fact,” Loncke said. “It is rooted in false, outdated ideas that LGBTQ+ people are unnatural or need to be cured.”

Testifying against the bill, Greg Baylor of the Alliance Defending Freedom said LB367 would “invade” the counselor-patient relationship and violate the First Amendment rights of practitioners by dictating what can and cannot be said during therapy sessions.

“The Free Speech Clause doesn’t just say you have the right to be neutral,” Baylor said. “The Free Speech Clause gives parents and the practitioners a right to have an opinion and to pursue a goal, and I think this law would undermine that.”

Also in opposition was attorney Matt Heffron, representing the Nebraska Family Alliance. Calling the measure “flagrantly unconstitutional,” Heffron said LB367 would prevent children who need help and are seeking counsel for their “difficulties with same-sex attraction” from speaking with a therapist about those concerns.

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.