NY Lawmaker Names Anti-Conversion Therapy Bill After VP-Elect Mike Pence

After getting the distinct honor of getting booed at Hamilton, vice president-elect Mike Pence has gotten another honor: having a New York bill to ban the practice of conversion therapy bill named after him. The story was picked up by WBFO.

The bill was proposed by Erie County, New York legislator Patrick Burke. The bill’s acronym is ‘PENCE’: Prevention of Emotional Neglect and Childhood Endangerment. Burke’s proposed bill bans conversion therapy, meant to convert gay people to straight, in Erie County.

“I think it is an abusive practice. Some of the things that are actually carried out in conversion therapy are pretty disturbing,” Burke told WBFO. “This practice has no business in our society and really the idea of trying to sexually desensitize children is disgusting and disturbing,” Conversion therapy is currently illegal in California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

Burke named the bill after Pence because of the future VP’s support of conversion therapy. As Talking Points Memopoints out, Pence’s 2000 campaign for Congress website stated support for conversion therapy: "resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior." Pence also stated his opposition to the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy and marriage equality.

“Mike Pence is probably going to have the most power of any vice president in the history of our country and he has openly advocated for conversion therapy," said Burke. "I want that to sink into people. I want them to realize it's a serious issue of abuse of children flatly, whether they are gay or not, it’s abuse, then you have a man who is going to have enormous power over all of us, who advocates for it."