Colorado bill would allow patients to sue providers for ‘conversion’ therapy ‘injury’

Introduced ahead of Tuesday’s 8-1 ruling at the nation’s highest court invalidating Colorado’s outright ban on conversion therapy, HB26-1322 would allow former patients to sue for damages based on “expert testimony, scientific literature, or other evidence demonstrating that sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts are capable of causing the type of psychological injury or illness the plaintiff suffers.”

“Conversion therapy doesn’t fix anything because nothing is broken,” declared Democrat state Rep. Alex Valdez, a lead sponsor of the bill. “The harms are well documented in literature, film and professional analysis (…) Colorado is making a statement that we will not make it easy to cause harm, we will continue working towards a world where LGBTQ people are treated as equals not in need of ‘conversion.’”

Apparently prepared as a backup in anticipation of the ban being struck down, HB26-1322 could potentially expose practitioners to a burden nearly as deterrent by opening the floodgates to broad-ranging and difficult-to-disprove claims.

The bill maintains that harms from conversion therapy “often do not manifest until years or decades after the efforts occurred,” as “survivors frequently fail to recognize such treatment as harmful and fail to connect their psychological injuries to the treatment until much later in life or are deterred from coming forward by shame instilled by the treatment itself.” Those claiming to have been harmed could bring suits “at any time without limitation,” while suits brought on behalf of individuals who have died can be brought up to five years after death.

Opponents of “conversion” or “reparative” therapy commonly elicit opposition to the practice by invoking fringe, abusive, and long-since-outdated practices such as electric shock and other forms of physically harmful junk science. But in reality, modern treatment consists largely of simple counseling to overcome unwanted homosexual feelings or find acceptance with one’s true sex, the effectiveness of which is backed by studies as well as testimony from those who have benefited.

In recent years, such opposition has become a double standard given left-wing activists’ widespread embrace of not just actively encouraging transgenderism in impressionable, gender-confused children but also subjecting them to potentially irreversible surgical and chemical transition procedures.