Ohio Conversion Therapy Ban Gets First Hearing, Lady Gaga Cited

Ohio's long-stalled effort to ban conversion therapy for minors got its first committee hearing on Tuesday — and it lasted less than four minutes. Senate Bill 71 would bar licensed physicians, social workers, psychologists, counsellors and advanced practice nurses from practising conversion therapy on anyone under 18, with enforcement handled by the state boards that issue their licences.

The bill is not new. It was introduced in February 2025 by Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio of Lakewood and Senator Beth Liston of Dublin, and this is the fourth time Ohio lawmakers have taken up the idea. What changed is the calendar: Senate rules guarantee a hearing to bills introduced by April in even-numbered years, which is why SB 71 surfaced in the Health Committee this week with no prospect of an immediate vote and no questions from any committee member.

What SB 71 would actually prohibit

The text targets a specific set of licensed professionals, forbidding them from "engag[ing] in conversion therapy when providing mental health treatment to a minor patient". Conversion therapy — also called reparative or reintegrative therapy — is the practice of attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Every major medical and psychological body has concluded that it does not work and that it causes harm, including raised anxiety, depression and suicidality.

Enforcement would run through the professional licensing boards. Each board would design its own complaints process and decide whether an infraction warrants suspending or revoking a licence. There is no criminal penalty in the bill, and no new state agency.

Fifteen municipalities have already moved

Ohio is not starting from zero. Fifteen municipalities — 14 cities plus Cuyahoga County — already ban conversion therapy on minors, creating a patchwork in which a practice that is illegal inside Columbus city limits remains legal a few miles up the road. A statewide law would close that gap, which is precisely the argument opponents of the patchwork have been making for years.

Senator Liston put a number on the scale of the problem: an estimated 500 Ohio minors are subjected to conversion therapy each year. "We have over 70 years of data telling us this hurts children," she told the committee. "Let's protect them instead."

The hearing's most quoted moment, though, came from Antonio, who reached for Lady Gaga's 2011 anthem "Born This Way" to frame the case.

"I think these lyrics by Lady Gaga of all people give the best rationale for why conversion therapy is not only damaging to individuals who are exposed to it, but also demonstrates that people are who they are regardless of external pressures." — Senator Nickie Antonio, Senate Minority Leader

She then read the lines aloud: "I'm beautiful in my way / 'Cause God makes no mistakes / I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way."

The counter-bill moving in the other direction

SB 71 was heard in the same week that Republicans advanced legislation pushing the opposite way. HB 693, a bill to protect parents who reject their transgender children, contains a section barring any state agency from "stating or suggesting" that psychological or mental health treatment which refuses to acknowledge a trans child's identity can be called conversion therapy. In effect it would rewrite the definition rather than the practice — and it is the reason LGBTQ+ advocates in Ohio are treating this session as a two-front fight rather than a single bill.

What happens next

• No date yet: A second hearing has not been scheduled. Under Ohio's two-year General Assembly, the bill needs further committee hearings before it can reach the Senate floor.
• Companion bill: A parallel bill to ban conversion therapy on minors is also pending in the Ohio House, giving sponsors a second route if the Senate stalls.
• HB 693: The parental-rejection bill remains the more immediate threat, and would move faster with a Republican majority behind it.
• Municipal route: With 15 local bans already in force, advocates can keep pressing city councils while the statehouse deadlocks.

Ohio's fight is a reminder that the map matters — and so does the calendar. If you are in Amsterdam and want to spend your energy somewhere more cheerful, Vibra has the city's LGBTQ+ party listings, from weekly club nights to one-off drag showcases, with tickets and Pulse points on a free profile. Sign up, show up, and bring someone who needs the night out.

Sources: The Buckeye Flame, "Committee holds first hearing to ban conversion therapy on minors", 11 November 2026; The Advocate, "Ohio lawmaker quotes Lady Gaga lyrics in hearing to ban conversion therapy on minors", 12 November 2026.