Wolf for your leadership and for taking bold action to protect and affirm LGBTQ young people across the Commonwealth,” said Troy Stevenson, the group’s senior campaign manager for advocacy and government affairs, in a statement. The Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization that supports LGBTQ youth, applauded the governor’s order, saying he set a necessary example for governors around the country. Wolf’s order asks Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services “to develop resource guides that outline science and evidence-based best practices on family preservation and available community and local LGBTQIA+ affirming entities and services for families to support an LGBTQIA+ child or youth, as well as resources for caring for LGBTQIA+ children and youth within the child welfare system, including caring for their physical and mental health and well-being.” Though the governor’s order does not ban the practice outright in Pennsylvania, it does provide some key protections that advocates say are critical.Īmong other things, the order directs relevant state agencies “to explore and implement all options to ensure state funds, programs, contracts, and other resources are not used for the purposes of providing, authorizing, endorsing, reimbursing for, or referring for conversion therapy, to the extent permitted by law.”Īdditionally, it directs the state “to commit to discourage commercial insurers from providing reimbursement for conversion therapy, to the extent permitted by law.” As part of that, the state “is also directed to receive and investigate any reports of commercial insurance claims that have been paid for conversion therapy.” Conversion therapy is banned in at least 20 states and several cities across the country, but several bills have been introduced to preserve the practice or even to repeal the bans.

Wolf outline