(San Francisco, CA, May 21, 2015)—Today, U.S. Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) introduced the “Stop Harming Our Kids” (SHOK) Resolution of 2015, calling on states to pass laws protecting LGBTQ 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 LGBTQ 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 Corey 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.”
NCLR has been at the forefront of efforts to protect youth and their families from conversion therapy for more than two decades and, alongside the Human Rights Campaign and state equality groups, has helped pass legislation in California, New Jersey, Oregon, and the District of Columbia. NCLR launched its #BornPerfect campaign last year to stop conversion therapy across the country by 2019 by passing laws, fighting in courtrooms, and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by attempts to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Learn more about the #BornPerfect campaign at www.NCLRights.org/BornPerfect