CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 06:00 am

In 2023, Minnesota passed a law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz, that prohibits clinical mental health counselors from practicing “conversion therapy” with minors, effectively barring them from offering any guidance that does not affirm a child’s struggles with sexual orientation or gender identity.

This ban, enacted under House File 16 and effective Aug. 1, 2023, complicates access to tailored mental health resources for minors struggling with these issues, especially when a minor seeks to change his or her identity.

David Kirby, a clinical mental health counselor in Minnesota, told CNA that the law created a new minority: young people with same-sex attraction (SSA) who do not want it.

“There are people who find their gay attraction ego dystonic,” Kirby sai

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