The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) today released two toolkits for child welfare and juvenile justice agency employees on how to protect LGBTQ youth from the serious harm caused by conversion therapy. Conversion therapy, sometimes called “ex-gay therapy,” is an attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity and has been debunked by every major medical and mental health organization in the U.S. Ending Conversion Therapy in Child Welfare and Ending Conversion Therapy in Juvenile Justice help state agencies recognize how and when LGBTQ youth may be subjected to conversion therapy while in the care of the state, explain the negative impact of conversion therapy and its close relationship to family rejection, and include tips and model language about how to develop policies protecting LGBTQ youth from these harms.
