A New York elected official has introduced local legislation that would ban conversion therapy, naming the law after Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who has appeared to show support for the practice.
Patrick Burke, a legislator in Erie County, has named the proposed law the Prevention of Emotional Neglect and Childhood Endangerment (PENCE), according to WBFO.
“Mike Pence is probably going to have the most power of any vice president in the history of our country and he has openly advocated for conversion therapy,” Burke told the new outlet. “I want that to sink into people. I want them to realize it’s a serious issue of abuse of children, Flatly, whether they are gay or not, it’s abuse. Then you have a man who is going to have enormous power over all of us, who advocates for it.”
Conversion therapy attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual through psychological treatments or counseling.
In 2000, when Pence was running for Congress, his website said money was aside to help HIV/AIDS patients be “directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior,” according to the Washington Post.
[WBFO]