LGBT advocates in Delaware are praising last week’s passage of a bill that penalizes clinical professionals who practice conversion therapy on minors within the state.
SB 65 was signed into law by Delaware Gov. John Carney on July 23. It calls for revoking the license of any mental-health, social-work or medical professional who practices conversion therapy on a child, and prohibits the referral of a child to another state for conversion therapy.
Numerous LGBT advocates attended the bill-signing ceremony in Wilmington. Carney gave the pens used during the ceremony to Delaware Equality, a statewide LGBT group that lobbied for the measure, and Joseph F. Cozza, one of the LGBT advocates who spearheaded the initiative.
Lisa Goodman, president of Delaware Equality, praised state officials for enacting the law.
“The Delaware General Assembly has once again stood up and said the LGBT citizens of Delaware are entitled to the same legal protections — be it from discrimination or harmful medical practices — as any other Delawarean,” Goodman told PGN.
“It was a great occasion to have all the advocates who had worked on that bill come together to celebrate an important step forward for protecting LGBT youth,” she added.
Cozza, a former aide to state Sen. Harris B. McDowell, said Delaware is the 14th state, along with the District of Columbia, to ban conversion therapy for minors through the legislative process. New York banned conversion therapy for minors through a gubernatorial executive order, he said.
SB 65 passed the Delaware Senate in May 2017 in a 12-3 vote and the House of Representatives in June in a 24-14 vote. There were two public hearings, during which opponents claimed the bill would infringe upon parental rights.
Delaware state Rep. Richard G. Collins (R-Millsboro), an outspoken opponent of the measure, blasted the bill as “meddling” into private matters.
In a statement, Collins said the bill “will prevent clinical professionals from having open dialogues with their patients. This is another case of the state interfering in the relationship between parent and child concerning the sensitive subject of sexuality.”
It’s wrong for the state “to insert itself between patients and their counselors to bias people wrestling with the issue of transitioning to a new sexual orientation or gender identity,” he added.
Collins declined to be interviewed by PGN. He offered an amendment to SB 65 that would have allowed conversion therapy for minors in Delaware with parental consent. His amendment was defeated 24-15 in a June 7 vote.
Delaware state Rep. Debra Heffernan (D-Bellafonte) said it wasn’t feasible to ban conversion therapy for adults in Delaware.
“We can’t ban it for adults because you just can’t,” Heffernan told PGN. “If a person is an adult and wants to find someone to do this, we can’t stop them. But at least we protect children from this false science.”
Heffernan disagreed with opponents who say the bill infringes on parental rights. “A parent might also believe it’s OK for their child to play with guns, but of course we can’t allow that.”