NY bans insurance coverage of LGBT ‘conversion therapy’

The announcement was made on Saturday by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said the state would move to ban it, including barring the state’s mental health facilities from attempting to “convert” the gender identity or sexual orientation of minors.

Taken as a whole, the new regulations would severely restrict conversion therapy, which Cuomo called “a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice” in a statement.

Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, told the New York Daily News : “We have supported, and continue to support, the rights of people who have unwanted same sex attractions to seek the counselling they desire”.

“We will not allow the misguided and the intolerant to punish LGBT young people for simply being who they are”, said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a statement sent to media. The state is joining a number of states that have acted against what’s known as gay conversion therapy.

Last year, the New York Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that would have banned mental health practitioners from performing conversion therapy on minors, labeling the practice a form of professional misconduct that could put medical licenses at risk.

Cuomo’s office said Saturday that the governor believed the financial incentives being offered would effectively end conversion therapy in NY.

Nationwide, there are no firm figures on the extent of conversion therapy.

“No young person should be coerced or subjected to this unsafe so-called therapy, which has been linked to youth substance abuse, depression, homelessness, and even suicide”, said HRC President Chad Griffin.

The Democratic governor announced the new rules on the same day he’s to be honored by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights group in the country.

“As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors”, Jarrett wrote last summer.

Similar laws already exist in Oregon, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

The measures announced by Cuomo include bans on public and private health care insurers from providing reimbursement for conversion therapy for people under 18.