Utah psychologists could be prohibited from conducting conversion therapy on minor-aged clients, under a draft rule approved Thursday.
The change, proposed by an advisory board to the state’s professional licensing division, comes at the urging of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.
The Republican governor in June directed the state’s Psychologist Licensing Board to review and create rules regarding conversion therapy — a widely discredited practice that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity — after an effort to ban the practice through legislation stalled in March.
The new rule, if adopted, would add to the definition of unprofessional conduct to include “engaging in or attempting to engage in the practice of sexual orientation change efforts or gender identity change efforts with a client who is less than 18 years old.