On 02-08-2018, In response to credible evidence that the act of conversion therapy was being performed on minor women, enraged citizens protested the Metro City Church in Riverview, where these alleged conversion therapy classes were taking place. From then, our collective movement to make Michigan the tenth state to ban conversion therapy began to careen with a lot of new momentum. We can make our great state a place where we do not allow pseudoscience to harm our children any longer, but we cannot do it without all of you.

On 02-13-2018, State Reps. Zemke, Camilleri, Moss, Sneller, Hoadley, Wittenberg, Liberati, Yancey, Hammoud and Gay-Dagnogo, introduced House Bill 5550, which bars mental health professionals from performing conversion therapy on minors, an act the scientific and medical community has renounced as harmful and dangerous to children, including the American Psychological Association.

House Bill 5550 has been referred to the Committee on Health Policy, which is chaired by Rep. Hank Vaupel. Our goal, as citizens concerned for the wellbeing and safety of children, is to ask the Health Policy Committee Chair to hold a public hearing on House Bill 5550.

Chair Hank Vaupel holds the authority to initiate a public hearing. The most effective way for us to obtain a hearing is to reach out directly to let the chair know that we, the people, want a public hearing on this issue, to form a consensus based in fact. If everyone who reads this signs, our chances of obtaining a public hearing increase exponentially. We plan to take the petition to the chair to ask him for a hearing on HB 5550.

Thank you for being involved with our movement to make Michigan #thetenthstate. If you are interested in circulating petitions or volunteering in any capacity, we are always looking for people who want to help be part of the solution.

Health Policy Committee Chair Hank Vaupel's contact information:

Official -

http://gophouse.org/representatives/southeast/vaupel/

Facebook -

https://www.facebook.com/State-Rep-Hank-Vaupel-15850471950…/

Twitter -

https://twitter.com/HankVaupel

Health Policy Committee contact information:

http://house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/CommitteeInfo.aspx?comkey=425

House Bill 5550 information and full text:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(qqfvp3lokpqgnkx0bsyfrpoz))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=2018-HB-5550

APA Fact sheet:

http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/just-the-facts.pdf