SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 21, 2015)—Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the “Stop Harming Our Kids” (SHOK) Resolution of 2015, calling on states to pass laws protecting LGBT youth from conversion therapy, a set of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to be able to change sexual orientation and gender identity. The resolution is modeled after Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s Stop Harming Our Kids (SHOK) Resolution, introduced in the House last month. Senator Booker’s move comes two days after Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-33rd) introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which would define the provision of conversion therapy for profit as consumer fraud, and one month after the White House, Surgeon General, and other national leaders joined the call to support LGBT youth by ending these ineffective and harmful practices for good.
NCLR #BornPerfect™ Campaign Coordinator Sam Ames said: “We are proud that our longtime ally Senator Cory Booker has joined the growing chorus of national leaders calling for an end to conversion therapy. While the events of the last month have been historic–from Representative Lieu’s Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act to Representative Speier’s SHOK Resolution in the House to President Obama’s historic statement calling for an end to these dangerous and discredited practices–the introduction of the SHOK Resolution in the Senate marks the next step in a much longer journey. This is a great moment in our history, but it is not a moment to declare victory. Instead, we must recommit ourselves to the hard work ahead to leave the next generation a world where none among them contemplates taking their own life just because they are LGBTQ, and where every child knows they were born perfect.”
Born Perfect is a survivor-led campaign to end conversion therapy created by The National Center for Lesbian Rights, a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.