Dave Montez (Photo courtesy of One Colorado_
Dave Montez, the executive director of One Colorado, was not at a loss for words when a state Senate committee killed a ban on gay conversion therapy Monday. It was the the Republican-led Senate killed such a bill after it passed out of the state House, where Democrats have the majority.
The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee killed the bill on a party-line vote. Though hardly a surprise, the defeat was a setback for the organization that represents the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.
Montez said the state’s LGBT community will focus on making their feelings known in this fall’s elections.
passed out of the lower chamber on March 17. It would have prevented a licensed mental health provider from practicing conversion therapy on a minor. One Colorado contends the practice has been discredited and serves only to make young people ashamed of themselves without a scientific track record to show conversion works.
Montez 3 after serving as the acting president of GLAAD (formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), where he was previously the organization’s chief of staff. He oversaw the campaign to reverse the Boy Scouts ban on openly gay youth, among other LGBT causes.
This is his full statement on the defeat of the conversion therapy ban:
Today the Republicans on the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee had another chance to do the right thing for young LGBT Coloradans. Despite the fact all of Colorado s leading mental health organizations reject the practice of conversion therapy, the Republican members of the committee chose to disregard the science and testimony of those who came to testify in support of the ban. Few practices have hurt LGBT people more than this so-called therapy.
LGBT young people who undergo conversion therapy are at risk of long-term depression, guilt, rejection, and are at a heightened risk for suicide. When these are the known side effects of this dangerous practice, it is far past time for it to be banned in our state. We want to thank State Senators Aguilar and Donovan for their votes today in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people in Colorado.
The conversion therapy ban did not receive a fair hearing today, just like it did not last year – and just like every bill that would improve the lives of LGBT Coloradans has not since 2014. It is unfortunate that Republican leadership in the State Senate is more concerned with placating the far-right fringe of their party than doing the right thing by LGBT Coloradans and their families.
While we are disappointed in the committee s vote today, we will continue to work to ban this dangerous and discredited practice. We now take our fight to the election. We will focus our community’s efforts – just as we did in 2012 – to win a pro-equality Senate majority that will vote to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Coloradans and their families.
