N.J. lawmakers back ‘conversion therapy’ ban

TRENTON, N.J—A New Jersey Senate committee on Monday approved a bill that would ban so-called anti-gay “conversion therapy.”

The 7-1 vote in the Senate Health Committee came after LGBT advocates testified in support of it — Garden State Equality Executive Director Troy Stevenson wrote on his organization’s website that a friend from his hometown in Oklahoma had been sent to a “conversion” camp by his parents after members of a high school football team caught them kissing.

Stevenson’s friend took his life the day after they last spoke.

“He described things that I couldn’t imagine, indignities that I won’t repeat,” Stevenson wrote. “He said, “I will never go back.”

The full Senate will now consider the measure.