republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/sb-65.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 24 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONVERSION THERAPY.	Conversion therapy is a practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including any effort to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. Conversion therapy has been rejected by all mainstream medical and mental health organizations, and there is no credible evidence that it is effective. Moreover, this practice poses enormous health risks to LGBTQ youth, including an increased sense of shame, guilt, hopelessness, stress, and anger, thus increasing the risk of anxiety, depression, and self-harm. The harm done by conversion therapy can last well into adulthood.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	SB 65	Delaware SB 65 (149)	bill		enacted	Debra Heffernan Harris B. McDowell	1	11	2	2017-04-26	2018-07-23	openstates	ocd-bill/b59d56a7-8c2a-40c8-af86-5b980a3b46c6	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25678	cb871a47d20984f43717ecdaa6492e35f6593a7ea5f0d7e646c6f3efc18b02ca	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 65 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 24 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONVERSION THERAPY.

Conversion therapy is a practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including any effort to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. Conversion therapy has been rejected by all mainstream medical and mental health organizations, and there is no credible evidence that it is effective. Moreover, this practice poses enormous health risks to LGBTQ youth, including an increased sense of shame, guilt, hopelessness, stress, and anger, thus increasing the risk of anxiety, depression, and self-harm. The harm done by conversion therapy can last well into adulthood.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 12–3 (pass) · upper
• SM — 24–14 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
• Harris B. McDowell — primary (person)
• Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
• David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
• David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
• Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
• Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
• John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
• John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
• Melanie George Smith — cosponsor (person)
• Michael Ramone — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• Peter C. Schwartzkopf — cosponsor (person)
• Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2017-04-26 Introduced and Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-05-02 ReAssigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-05-10 Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-05-17 Passed By Senate. Votes: 12 YES 3 NO 4 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT passage
• 2017-05-18 ReAssigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-07 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 5 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2018-03-01 Amendment HA 3 to SB 65 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-06-07 Amendment HA 3 to SB 65 - Stricken in House
• 2018-06-07 Amendment HA 4 to SB 65 - Defeated By House. Votes: 15 YES 24 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2018-06-07 Passed By House. Votes: 24 YES 14 NO 3 NOT VOTING passage
• 2018-07-23 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b59d56a7-8c2a-40c8-af86-5b980a3b46c6. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).