The United States’ first openly gay Governor, Jared Polis, has successfully enforced two new LGBTI protection laws that include banning conversion therapy on youth.
Polis, who is the 43rd Governor of Colorado after being elected in January 2019 signed the legislation into law, banning state-licensed mental health care providers from engaging in conversion therapy on a patient under 18 years of age.
Speaking at the public signing ceremony in Denver, Polis explained, “Many of these so-called therapies or treatments are counterproductive, leading to lifelong issues with depression, even ultimately ending in suicide for some.”
He continued, “This will help so many people in Colorado to make sure that no one can be forced to attend a torturous conversion therapy pseudoscience practice.”
But Polis wasn’t done yet, and also signed a second piece of legislation, known as Jude’s Law, which will make it easier for transgender and non-binary people within Colorado to update the gender on their birth certificate.
Under the new law, Colorado residents will now be able to update their gender to M, F, or X, without surgery, a doctor’s note, or court order, making Colorado is the third state in the USA (including California and Oregon) to have non-binary gender options for both driver’s licenses and birth certificates.
