So-called “conversion therapy” is the discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity by way of therapy or psychiatric intervention. House Bill 1210 would prohibit any licensed psychiatrist or mental health care provider from “engaging in conversion therapy with a patient under 18 years of age.”

Our lawmakers should support it. Colorado’s gay, lesbian and bisexual children deserve that protection.

The bill has cleared a committee vote and will probably pass the full House. The Senate could be more problematic. A similar bill died there last year. State Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, could be a big help there.

Conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, is simply wrong. It can be harmful to the patient and their families. It fosters prejudice and a wrongful understanding of human sexuality. Above all, it is founded on the erroneous assumption that homosexuality is both pathological and freely chosen. And, not surprisingly, it does not work.

The legal protection is necessary because the typical circumstances surrounding conversion therapy involve coercion. Often what happens is a teen comes out as gay, after which a parent, guardian or some other relative freaks out and takes the kid to someone who claims to be able to “fix” the child.

Those offering conversion therapy may be honestly convinced of its religious importance. But it can also be a con. Last year, a court in New Jersey found an organization there had committed fraud for offering services it claimed could change patients from gay to straight. The judge in the case compared the idea that homosexuality is an illness that can be cured to “the notion that the Earth is flat and the sun revolves around it.”

Whether the attempt at conversion is faith-based or founded on an outmoded understanding of psychology, the fundamental problem is the idea that homosexuality is not a question of innate sexual orientation, but a disorder. It is a belief that was once widely held, even among psychiatrist and other professionals.

No longer. The idea that a same-sex orientation is a disorder has been rejected by the mental health profession across the board. The American Psychiatric Association dropped its classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973.

The thinking underlying conversion therapy is now seen akin to that of the infamous Native American residential schools whose goal was to “kill the Indian in the child.” And the results can justify the comparison.

With conversion therapy, the child is effectively told that he or she is fundamentally wrong and bad, not because of any act or misbehavior but because of who and what they are. And those kids are told that right at a formative time of life when they are wrestling with all the confusion and mixed-up emotions of any adolescent – plus coming out.

The American Psychiatric Association says, “The potential risks of reparative therapy are great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior, since therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”

If an adult believes that such therapy is for them, so be it. Adults make health care decisions for themselves. But the state has a responsibility to protect children from such quackery.