Fabio
83 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
83 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 24 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONVERSION THERAPY."
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description: "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."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "149"
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identifier: "SB 65"
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citation: "Delaware SB 65 (149)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Debra Heffernan", "Harris B. McDowell"]
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version_count: 1
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action_count: 11
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vote_count: 2
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first_action: "2017-04-26"
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last_action: "2018-07-23"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b59d56a7-8c2a-40c8-af86-5b980a3b46c6"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25678"
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source_hash: "cb871a47d20984f43717ecdaa6492e35f6593a7ea5f0d7e646c6f3efc18b02ca"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# Delaware SB 65 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 24 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONVERSION THERAPY.
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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.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=25678&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB65)
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## Votes
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- SM — **12–3** (pass) · upper
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- SM — **24–14** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
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- Harris B. McDowell — primary (person)
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- Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
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- David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
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- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
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- Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
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- Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
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- John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
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- John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
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- Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
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- Melanie George Smith — cosponsor (person)
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- Michael Ramone — cosponsor (person)
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- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
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- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — cosponsor (person)
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- Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2017-04-26** Introduced and Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-05-02** ReAssigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-05-10** Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2017-05-17** Passed By Senate. Votes: 12 YES 3 NO 4 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2017-05-18** ReAssigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-06-07** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 5 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
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- **2018-03-01** Amendment HA 3 to SB 65 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
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- **2018-06-07** Amendment HA 3 to SB 65 - Stricken in House
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- **2018-06-07** Amendment HA 4 to SB 65 - Defeated By House. Votes: 15 YES 24 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT `amendment-failure`
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- **2018-06-07** Passed By House. Votes: 24 YES 14 NO 3 NOT VOTING `passage`
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- **2018-07-23** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b59d56a7-8c2a-40c8-af86-5b980a3b46c6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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