Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has signed a Tuesday executive order banning conversion therapy for minors.
The Democratic governor signed the executive order this week, directing state agencies to discourage conversion therapy for people of all ages. The executive order also instructs agencies, including the Department of Human Services, to make certain that state funds are not used for conversion therapy.
“Conversion therapy is a traumatic practice based on junk science that actively harms the people it supposedly seeks to treat,” Wolf said in a statement. “This discriminatory practice is widely rejected by medical and scientific professionals and has been proven to lead to worse mental health outcomes for LGBTQIA+ youth subjected to it. This is about keeping our children safe from bullying and extreme practices that harm them.”
‘MANSPLAINING’: BACKLASH ERUPTS OVER MAN APPOINTED AS FIRST ‘PERIOD DIGNITY OFFICER’
Pennsylvania joins 25 other states that ban or partially ban conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project.
Mathew Shurka, a conversion therapy survivor who supports ending the practice, called Wolf’s executive order “a critical step to protect LGBTQ minors.”
“LGBTQ kids and their families are targeted by so-called therapists causing lifelong harm,” Shurka said, according to NBC News. “This executive order demonstrates that our political offices have the power to protect our youth, and it is their responsibility to do so.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
While 20 states and Washington, D.C., have completely banned conversion therapy for minors, a federal court ruled that Alabama, Georgia, and Florida cannot enforce the bans.
