Connecticut legislators have proposed a bill that promises to ban conversion therapy for minors and FIC has publicly questioned the need for it.

Family Institute of Connecticut believes in the dignity of the individual.  We do not advocate harming people, physically or psychologically.  We don’t support conversion therapy camps where abuse occurs.  We don’t buy into the ideology of gender fluidity but neither do we condone harming minors who struggle with these or similar issues.  FIC is for banning abuse of people who self-identify as LGBT…and the abuse of anyone else.

As far as FIC has been able to determine, what has traditionally been thought of as “conversion therapy” and the harsh treatment of minors associated with it, is not being practiced in Connecticut. Setting aside that issue, and other troubling premises in the bill, a big problem is that Substitute House Bill 6695 will apply far beyond the therapists it seeks to regulate.  According to section 2 of the bill, every “person engaged in trade or commerce” will be prohibited from providing “conversion therapy” and targeted by the new law.  Wow. I’m pretty sure I engaged in commerce this morning at Walmart.

Couple this sweeping provision with the extremely broad definition of “conversion therapy” makes this bill applicable to many legal persons probably not intended, including book sellers, religious organizations, private schools, churches and regular people.  Targeting the speech of persons who hold a biblical understanding of human sexuality creates First Amendment issues and the legislature would be better served to amend or jettison this bill.