Michigan has become the latest state to take action against conversion therapy during LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order on Monday banning taxpayer dollars from being put toward treatments that purport to “cure” the sexual orientation or gender identity of a queer or transgender youth. The prohibition will include funding from the state’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), according to the local news outlet MLive.
Whitmer, a first-term Democrat, said in a statement that the directive illustrates that “hate has no home in Michigan.”
“My administration is committed to addressing the systemic barriers faced by young LGBTQ+ Michiganders so that our state is a place where they are able to reach their full potential,” she said. “The actions we take today will serve as a starting point in protecting our LGBTQ+ youth from the damaging practice of conversion therapy and in ensuring that Michigan is a reflection of true inclusion.”
The order was reportedly signed at a ceremony in which Whitmer was joined by members of the advocacy organizations Equality Michigan and the Ruth Ellis Center. The groups applauded the governor’s move, noting that she is doing “everything in her power” to shield youth from a “dangerous, fraudulent practice.”
“No child should be subjected to the abusive practice of so-called conversion therapy, which sends the harmful message that there is something wrong with who you are,” said Equality Michigan Executive Director Erin Knott in a statement.
As the statewide LGBTQ+ group notes, Whitmer’s order — which is somewhat limited in scope — was put forward in place of a sweeping ban on the practice passed by the Michigan Legislature. Efforts to pass a bill outlawing conversion therapy have stalled in recent years in the GOP-controlled lawmaking body, even despite the fact that the two proposals introduced in 2021 garnered 64 co-sponsors between them, as the CBS news affiliate WLNS reports.
Whitmer isn’t the first governor to use executive action to subvert Republican obstruction on the issue. Earlier this year, Wisconsin Democrat Tony Evers signed a similar order curbing state funds from being put toward debunked orientation or gender change treatments.
The Trevor Project, a national youth suicide prevention organization, lauded Whitmer’s workaround as an “amazing step forward that will help save young LGBTQ lives in Michigan.” The organization said in an email that 6,400 Michigan youth have reached out in crisis within the past year, while noting that even that number represents just 11% of young people in the state “who we estimate seriously consider suicide each year.”
“LGBTQ youth are beautiful the way that they are and deserve to be loved and respected,” added Sam Brinton, its vice president of advocacy and government affairs, in a statement.
Research from the Trevor Project found that conversion therapy can be a major contributor to feelings of suicidal ideation. According to a 2019 report, 42% of survivors of the treatment — a loosely defined set of practices ranging from talk therapy to, in rare cases, shock treatment — had considered ending their lives in the past year.
Whitmer’s order also calls on state agencies to explore further means of curbing conversion therapy from being practiced in Michigan, in order to take greater action to prevent these abuses from occurring.
“Members of the LGBTQ+ community face systemic barriers and are often further marginalized by this harmful practice,” said Michigan’s lieutenant governor, Garlin Gilchrist, in a statement. “Our administration is committed to addressing these barriers and making Michigan a reflection of true equality. Governor Whitmer and I will continue to work towards ensuring that hate has no home in Michigan.”
Currently, 20 states have banned conversion therapy at the legislative level, while a handful of states have taken other measures to curtail the practice.
Last week, the North Dakota Legislature appproved updated regulations from the North Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners banning licensees from engaging in “any practices or treatments that attempt to change or repair the sexual orientation or gender identity” of LGBTQ+ people. The move passed by a 8-7 committee vote, and because it was an internal regulatory move, it did not need signoff from the state’s governor.
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