After five years and five iterations, a bill to ban sexual orientation conversion therapy in Colorado was recently passed.

According to The Trevor Project, “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.”

The American Psychological Association and most other medical organizations agree that conversion therapy is an outdated and ineffective practice, one that does more harm than good.

House Bill 1129 would prohibit mental health professionals in Colorado from using conversion therapy practices on patients under the age of 18. It would also make advertising such practices a deceptive trade practice under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, as stated in the Denver Post.

Supporters of the bill side with the medical community and members of the LGBTQ community, some 700,000 of which have been subjected to conversion therapy. Opponents, particularly lobbyists and supporters of the organization Focus on the Family, cite the bill as a potential violation of free speech and religious freedom.

The bill was passed in both the House and the Senate. It will be sent back to the House, where it will likely be approved again and sent to the desk of Governor Jared Polis, who will likely sign it into law.