Promoting Civil Discourse & Intellectual Dialogue Series - The Future of Conversion Therapy Bans in the US

Promoting Civil Discourse & Intellectual Dialogue Series

The Future of Conversion Therapy Bans in the US

Over the last several years, 23 states, including New York and New Jersey, have barred licensed mental health professionals from providing therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation and gender identity. These conversion therapy bans often had bipartisan support when they passed. According to the New York Times, 8 statewide bans were “signed by Republican governors, and every bill passed with Republican support.” However, support for conversion therapy bans has declined recently as criticisms of policies and programs aimed at supporting queer and trans people have surged amongst the American public. In October, the Supreme Court heard in Chiles v. Salazar, a case that challenges Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors. A majority of the justices expressed skepticism over Colorado’s law during oral argument. This event will bring together medical professionals and policy experts to discuss the future of conversion therapy bans in the United States.

Speakers:

Jack Drescher, MD is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City. Dr. Drescher, an expert media spokesperson on issues related to gender and sexuality, first began publishing about the harms of conversion therapy in 1998 when the conventional wisdom in the mental health professions was “there’s no harm in trying to change.” He was the lead author of the American Psychiatric Association’s 2000 position statement regarding the harms of conversion therapy. He also served on the American Psychological Association Task Force whose 2009 report that documented the absence of empirical support for sexual orientation conversion efforts as well as the harms they could cause. Dr. Drescher, a Training & Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute, is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and a Faculty Member at Columbia’s Division of Gender, Sexuality, and Health. He is a Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.  Dr. Drescher is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Past President of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry and a Past President of APA’s New York County Psychiatric Society. Dr. Drescher’s professional honors include: the Dr. Ivan Goldberg Outstanding Service Award (2024), the Haskell Norman Prize for Excellence in Psychoanalysis (2023), the Mary S. Sigourney Award for International Work on Gender and Sexuality (2022), and the American Psychiatric Association’s John Fryer Award (2018).

Mathew Shurka is a prominent LGBTQ+ rights advocate whose work has advanced child protection through comprehensive legislative reform. As Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Born Perfect, he has successfully secured conversion therapy bans across 27 U.S. states and more than 120 cities, establishing protections for LGBTQ+ youth nationwide. A conversion therapy survivor, Mathew endured five years of discredited treatments from ages 16-21, including enforced family separation. This experience informed his advocacy approach when he co-founded Born Perfect with The National Center for Lesbian Rights in 2014. His methodology centers survivor voices while building coalitions among legal professionals, mental health experts, and policymakers to achieve legislative change. Mathew's influence extends beyond state policy. He regularly engages with Congress on federal legislation to end government funding of conversion therapy and has utilized media platforms to educate the public about harmful practices. His work has influenced international advocacy efforts, with organizations worldwide adopting similar survivor-centered approaches. He was recognized on OUT Magazine's OUT1 00 list in 2018 for his advocacy achievements.

Eric Abrams is an associate at the law firm Emery, Celli, Brinckerhoff, Abady, Ward, & Maazel (ECBAWM). Prior to joining ECBAWM, they were a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where they focused on white collar and regulatory defense, investigations, and class actions. Since joining ECBAWM, they have assisted in achieving positive results for clients across a broad range of cases, including obtaining final approval of a class action settlement securing significant financial and injunctive relief for LGBTQ+ policyholders in a “groundbreaking case” brought against an insurance company for unequal coverage in fertility treatment; recovering nearly $3.6 million for the family of a woman fatally suffocated by state aides while under the care of a New York state facility for people with disabilities; obtaining an acquittal on all charges, including second-degree murder, in a wrongful conviction re-trial; defeating Governor Hochul’s attempt to dismiss a case challenging the Governor’s “pause” of congestion pricing, ultimately leading to the program’s implementation; and defeating a motion challenging the constitutionality of the source-of-income discrimination provision of the New York City Human Rights Law. Abrams was also the lead author of an amicus brief filed along with Advocates for Trans Equality in the Chiles v. Salazar, the recent conversion therapy ban case that went before the Supreme Court.

Craig Konnoth is a professor of law at the University of Virginia and writes in health law and LGBT rights. His work has been published in The Yale Journal, the Harvard, Columbia, Penn, Michigan, and other law reviews, the New England Journal of medicine, The Washington Post, slate, and other outlets.  Before teaching, Craig was the deputy solicitor general up to California, Department of Justice. He was the primary author of the Supreme Court briefing in pickup versus Brown, which concerned a challenge to the California's conversion therapy ban, which was the first to be passed in the nation. He has also worked for the Williams Institute, the nation's first and Premier think tank and LGBT issues at UCLA law school.

Moderator:

Erin Mayo-Adam is the Director of the LGBTQ Policy Center at Roosevelt House, an associate professor in the Political Science Department, and a member of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Faculty and Curriculum Committee. She is the author of Queer Alliances: How Power Shapes Political Movement Formation and has published in numerous academic outlets, including the Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of LGBT Politics and Policy. Her research is situated in the fields of American politics, law and society, and political theory and bridges scholarship on social movements, interest groups and public policy, intersectionality, gender and sexuality, and migration and labor politics.