This state was getting ready to ban an abuse of LGBTQ kids — then Republicans watered it down

In what would have been an inspiring example of progress, the GOP-controlled Utah House of Representatives was advancing a bill to ban the use of gay "conversion therapy" on children.

Conversion therapy, which is currently banned in 15 other states, seeks to "cure" children of homosexuality. It is thoroughly discredited by modern psychology, has been likened to torture, and is linked to suicide, substance abuse, and mental illness in LGBTQ youth. And there was reason to think that even in this deeply red, deeply religious state, it could pass — Gov. Gary Herbert supported the bill, calling conversion therapy "barbaric," and the Mormon church, a powerful force in Utah politics and culture, gave its backing to it as well.

But at the last minute, according to ThinkProgress, Republicans threw out the bill in favor of a substitute version that would in fact continue to allow it in many cases:

In committee this week ... lawmakers introduced a substitute bill that significantly weakened the ban — stripping out any reference to gender identity such that it would no longer have provided any protection to transgender kids.

The substitute bill also narrowly defined conversion therapy so that the ban no longer applied to most forms of talk therapy. Instead, it would only apply to practices that cause "physical discomfort through aversive treatment that causes nausea, vomiting, or other unpleasant physical sensations" or that involve "electric shock or other electrical therapy, including electroconvulsive therapy or transcranial magnet stimulation." It's unclear how common these practices are. The bill also ensured that talk therapy would still be permitted.

Leaving aside the indignity of the bill reducing transgender kids to second-class status behind LGB kids, this bill would barely do anything, because "talk therapy" is the most common way this practice is administered. Moreover, it makes no sense to keep "talk therapy" legal when the main damage that conversion therapy causes is to mental health, not any sort of physical injury.

However, Republicans seem to believe this solves the matter. Herbert has stated that he supports the new, nearly worthless version of the bill, prompting Troy Williams, the executive director of Equality Utah, to resign from the Governor's Youth Suicide Task Force. "My hope was that your administration was serious about addressing issues related to LGBTQ youth suicide," wrote Williams in his resignation letter. "I've come to realize that you are not."

The whole episode underscores the struggle the LGBTQ community continues to face in achieving the basic right to dignity and wellbeing in America.