Changes

''See also [[homosexuality and the Bible]]''

''See also [[homosexuality and the Bible]]''

<br>'''Conversion therapy''', also known as reparative therapy or Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE), consists of counseling or treatment to change someone's sexual attraction from homosexuality to heterosexuality.  The [[Bible]] can be a powerful basis for the therapy.  Perhaps because of its effectiveness, homosexual activists have sought laws prohibiting conversion therapy in many states, and [[liberal]] California, Oregon, New Jersey, Illinois and the District of Columbia have banned this therapy for minors.  But on February 24, 2015, an Oklahoma House committee passed a bill to protect the right to conversion therapy, and the therapy remains fully lawful in the vast majority of the [[United States]].  [[Liberal]] [[Dem]] Governor Andrew Cuomo has tried to ban it for minors by issuing an unusual executive order in [[New York]].<ref>Gov. Cuomo's executive order purports to prohibit health insurers in New York from reimbursing for "conversion therapy services provided to an insured under the age of 18 years" and "to require behavioral health providers to certify that they will not provide conversion therapy to minors or seek reimbursement from the insurer for such services."  In addition, the executive order purports to make it "unlawful for any mental health facility licensed, funded or operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health to provide conversion therapy to minors" such that "[f]ailure to comply with these new regulations could result in the revocation of license and/or funding for any entity found to have engaged in these practices."  Medicaid was also prohibited from reimbursing for it in New York. [https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-executive-actions-banning-coverage-conversion-therapy Feb. 6, 2016 executive order]</ref>

<br>'''Conversion therapy''', also known as reparative therapy or Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE), consists of counseling or treatment to change someone's sexual attraction from homosexuality to heterosexuality.  The [[Bible]] can be a powerful basis for the therapy.  Perhaps because of its effectiveness{{Citation needed}}, homosexual activists have sought laws prohibiting conversion therapy in many states, and [[liberal]] California, Oregon, New Jersey, Illinois and the District of Columbia have banned this therapy for minors.  But on February 24, 2015, an Oklahoma House committee passed a bill to protect the right to conversion therapy, and the therapy remains fully lawful in the vast majority of the [[United States]].  [[Liberal]] [[Dem]] Governor Andrew Cuomo has tried to ban it for minors by issuing an unusual executive order in [[New York]].<ref>Gov. Cuomo's executive order purports to prohibit health insurers in New York from reimbursing for "conversion therapy services provided to an insured under the age of 18 years" and "to require behavioral health providers to certify that they will not provide conversion therapy to minors or seek reimbursement from the insurer for such services."  In addition, the executive order purports to make it "unlawful for any mental health facility licensed, funded or operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health to provide conversion therapy to minors" such that "[f]ailure to comply with these new regulations could result in the revocation of license and/or funding for any entity found to have engaged in these practices."  Medicaid was also prohibited from reimbursing for it in New York. [https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-executive-actions-banning-coverage-conversion-therapy Feb. 6, 2016 executive order]</ref>

The successful approaches can range from a change in someone's activities, such as sports, to an elimination of the animosity that someone might be harboring, such as anger towards his father.  Conversion to [[Christianity]] and regular attendance at church can help; Paul referenced converts from [[homosexuality]] to Christianity in the [[New Testament]].  [[Aversion therapy]], by which someone is averted from an unwanted activity or attraction by associating it with something mildly unpleasant, is an additional approach.

The successful approaches can range from a change in someone's activities, such as sports, to an elimination of the animosity that someone might be harboring, such as anger towards his father.  Conversion to [[Christianity]] and regular attendance at church can help; Paul referenced converts from [[homosexuality]] to Christianity in the [[New Testament]].  [[Aversion therapy]], by which someone is averted from an unwanted activity or attraction by associating it with something mildly unpleasant, is an additional approach.