A bill that would outlaw so-called “conversation therapy” for minors in Iowa has cleared a subcommittee in the Iowa Senate. Senator Matt McCoy, the only openly gay member of the Iowa legislature, says there is no “cure” for homosexuality.
“Best practices for the past 40 years, the [American Medical Association] and everyone else has stated you can’t change a kid’s orientation and to do so harms them irreparably,” McCoy says.
McCoy is the bill’s chief sponsor and he’s fashioned it after legislation signed into law in New Jersey by Republican Governor Chris Christie.
If the bill becomes law, state-licensed psychiatrists, therapists and social workers would be barred from offering counseling sessions designed to change a minor’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Denise Hagerla, a social worker in West Des Moines, supports the bill. Hagerla says she’s worked with over 100 people who says “survived” conversion therapy, and she’s been approached by parents who want to get it for their children. Aditi Rao of Cedar Falls, a leader in the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council, calls conversion therapy a “human rights abuse.”
Danny Carroll, a lobbyist for The Family Leader — a conservative Christian group, opposes the ban on this type of therapy.
“The Family Leader, myself as a father and grandfather, we believe that parents should be free to pursue the professional medical care for their children that they believe to be in the best long-term interest of their children without any interference from government,” Carroll told the senate subcommittee.
The bill does include a religious exemption which would allow Iowa churches and clergy to offer such counseling. Iowa pastors from Christian, Unitarian and Jewish perspectives attended Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing and urged senators to ban the therapy.
The American Psychiatric Association opposes so-called “reparative or conversion therapy” as the group says it’s based upon the mistaken assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder and a patient can change his or her sexual orientation with counseling. The states of California and New Jersey have banned conversion therapy for minors. A judge in New Jersey upheld that state’s ban last week, calling conversion therapy consumer fraud.
