Hawaii looks set to become the tenth US state to ban 'gay conversion' therapy - a which attempts to change the sexuality of minors.
Yesterday, state senators in Hawaii passed a bill, SB 270, which bans efforts to “engage in or attempt to engage in sexual orientation change efforts on a person under eighteen years of age”.
Tabled by Stanley Chang, Rosalyn Baker, and Karl Rhoads, the bill passed the state Senate by a vote of 24-1.
HRC Legislative Counsel Xavier Persad said of the advancement: “We thank the state senators who voted to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangerous and inhumane practice of conversion therapy."
He continued: “Children across the Aloha State deserve to live their lives authentically, and they deserve to know that they are not broken or ill because of who they are. We are calling on the House of Representatives to swiftly pass this bill and send it to Governor David Ige’s desk for his signature.”
Conversion therapy is already banned in the US states of California, Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New Mexico and Rhode Island.
