HB 6695 AAC The Protection of Youth From Conversion Therapy

All afternoon while I was volunteering at the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective I had CT-N on my computer playing in the background, they just had music playing while the Senate wasn’t in session. Then around three thirty I hear them call the senators to chamber to begin the session, after the opening pray and the Pledge of Allegiance the Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman who is also President of the Senate announced the first bill would be HB 6695 AAC The Protection of Youth From Conversion Therapy… Whoa! That’s our bill! I told the Executive Director that it is being heard now and she came and watched it with me.

The first senator to question the bill sponsor in the senate, Senator Beth Bye was Senator Suzio (R Meriden, Middletown, Cheshire, and Middlefield) and he started to pepper Senator Bye with questions for what seemed like forever but it was only an hour! Next up was Senator Kissel (R. Enfield, Suffield, Windsor Locks, East Granby, Somers and parts of Granby and Windsor)… Hey! He said he was for the bill why was he asking all these questions from the bishop of Archdiocese of Hartford? It turned out he just wanted the answers read into the record of the Senate.

There was a few more senators who spoke for and against the bill and the vote was called, as we sat around the computer screen watching the votes get posted… green, green, green, green and the green lights keep coming and there were no red lights lit? Then the Lieutenant Governor announces the vote… Yeas 36, Nays 0, Not voting 0!

It was unanimous!

The rules were suspended and the bill went to the governor immediately where he signed it in to law.

Screen Shot from ctEQUALITY Facebook page

But our work is not done yet!

Please email you state Senator and Representative and thank them for voting for the bill, this is a very important step to let them know that it was important to you that they voted for the bill. You can find their contact information here.

So ends eight months of work, the first planning meeting that I attended for the bill was back in October and we have been meeting about once a month after that.

Organizations that worked on the bill...
ACLU-CT
AIDS CT
CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence
CT TransAdvocacy Coalition
CT Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF)
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD)
GLSEN Connecticut
Hartford Gay & Lesbian Health Collective
National Association of Social Workers, CT Chapter
New Haven Pride Center
OutCT
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England
Triangle Community Center
True Colors