From the House Floor at the Capitol in Massachusetts

While visiting sites in Boston over the holidays I was reminded about the work still needed in my home state of Pennsylvania. 

My colleagues under the #leadership of Casey Pick at The Trevor Project have researched and found hundreds of publicly identifiable individuals who are currently conducting harmful and damaging conversion therapy on minors, 88 in PA alone who are#licensed by #governing #boards. 

To be clear, what we are talking about are people who go to work every day in #social work, #psychology, individual and family #therapy, #medicine, and even a massage therapist. 

Even the most #conservative #representatives have been shocked by the findings, one Philly area #legislator saying to me, “Wait, what? Is this 1890 something?!” 

No. It’s now 2024 and we can do something about the root cause of one of the leading factors that unfortunately and successfully contribute to suicidality among youth who struggle to understand their sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Thanks to the PA Coalition to End LGBTQ Conversion Therapy team, a large group of business leaders, grassroots and grasstops leaders, community leaders, professional association leaders, and more, for their support, a group too large to tag all. 

These four deserve special acknowledgement for their leadership in 2023: Troy Stevenson, Tanner Mobley, Ann Marie Frakes, MPA, and Johanna Byrd.