Senate Bill 353 would outlaw the use of so-called conversion therapy in minors.
It’s a tactic by which proponents say they can use therapy to change a person’s sexual orientation.
The bill has made it out of committee, and now faces a vote before the state senate. Supporters of the bill say the therapy can cause psychological damage.
During a hearing on the bill earlier in the session, the director of the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada told lawmakers numerous patients had reported symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder after going through conversion therapy.
The practice has been strongly criticized. Earlier this year, the Obama administration condemned the practice after a widely publicized suicide of a transgender teen, who wrote in her suicide note that religious therapists had tried to convert her back to being a boy.
St. Senator David Parks, D-Las Vegas
