Email Template:
Dear [add legislator name],
My name is [insert name]. I am [let the legislator know some facts about yourself]. I am writing to request your support for [add bill #].This legislation will prevent licensed mental health providers in Kentucky from performing conversion therapy with a patient under 18 years of age.
Conversion therapy, sometimes referred to as “reparative therapy,” is any of several dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Conversion therapists use a variety of shaming, emotionally traumatic or physically painful stimuli to make their victims associate those stimuli with their LGBTQ identities—all based on the scientifically discredited premise that being LGBT is a defect or disorder.According to studies by the UCLA Williams Institute, more than 700,000 LGBTQ people have been subjected to the horrors of conversion therapy, and an estimated 80,000 LGBTQ youth will experience this unprofessional conduct in coming years, often at the insistence of well-intentioned but misinformed parents or caretakers.
The bill will curb harmful practices known to produce lifelong damage to those who are subjected to them and help ensure the health and safety of LGBTQ youth. If successful, Kentucky would be the 15th state to pass legislation limiting the practice.
I ask you to support [add bill number] to ensure that no other young person goes through the dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Please contact me with any additional questions you may have.
Respectfully Yours,
[add your name]