AUGUSTA, (NEWS CENTER Maine)---Conversion Therapy, a practice meant to turn gay people straight could be banned in Maine.
The Portland Press Herald reports Representative Ryan Fecteau is behind a bill that would make limit conversion therapy in Maine.
Fecteau is proposing a ban on painful or shame-inducing efforts to discourage an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the article.
Supporters of conversion therapy say the bill could infringe on parental rights and jeopardize the work of faith-based counselors.
Fecteau's bill is allowing faith-based counselors to try to help people understand their sexual orientation.
The Associated Press said that other lawmakers introduced similar but milder forms of this bill in the past.
Those bills aimed to ban physical methods of conversion like electroshock therapy but left verbal abuse open-ended.
Fecteau's bill received support this month from the Legislature's Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee, according to the Press Herald.
The bill still faces votes in the House and Senate within the next month.
