I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2450 

To prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, commercial sexual 

orientation conversion therapy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2015 

Mr. TED LIEU of California (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FARR, Mr. PETERS, Ms. HAHN, Mrs. WATSON

COLEMAN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. 

TAKANO, Mr. RUSH, Mr. WELCH, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. LEE, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. 

LEWIS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. CLARK

of Massachusetts, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. SPEIER, and Mr. HONDA) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, 

commercial sexual orientation conversion therapy, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Therapeutic Fraud 

5 Prevention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or 

4 gender nonconforming is not a disorder, disease, ill5 ness, deficiency, or shortcoming; 

6 (2) the national community of professionals in 

7 education, social work, health, mental health, and 

8 counseling has determined that there is no scientif9 ically valid evidence for attempting to prevent a per10 son from being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, 

11 or gender nonconforming; 

12 (3) such professionals have determined that 

13 there is no evidence that conversion therapy is effec14 tive or that an individual’s sexual orientation or gen15 der identity can be changed by conversion therapy; 

16 (4) such professionals have also determined 

17 that the potential risks of conversion therapy are not 

18 only that it is ineffective, but also substantially dan19 gerous to an individuals’s mental and physical 

20 health, and has been shown to contribute to depres21 sion, self-harm, low self-esteem, family rejection, and 

22 suicide; and 

23 (5) it is in the interest of the Nation to make 

24 sure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 

25 people and their families are not defrauded by perVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 May 27, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2450.IH H2450

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1 sons seeking to profit by offering this harmful and 

2 wholly ineffective therapy. 

3 SEC. 3. UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES RE4 LATED TO CONVERSION THERAPY. 

5 (a) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.—It shall be unlawful for 

6 any person to— 

7 (1) provide conversion therapy to any individual 

8 if such person receives monetary compensation in ex9 change for such services; or 

10 (2) advertise for the provision of conversion 

11 therapy where such advertising claims— 

12 (A) to change another individual’s sexual 

13 orientation or gender identity; 

14 (B) to eliminate or reduce sexual or ro15 mantic attractions or feelings toward individ16 uals of the same gender; or 

17 (C) that such efforts are harmless or with18 out risk to individuals receiving such therapy. 

19 (b) VIOLATION OF RULE.—A violation of subsection 

20 (a) shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an 

21 unfair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section 

22 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

23 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

24 (c) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Commission shall 

25 enforce this section in the same manner, by the same 


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1 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties 

2 as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Fed3 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were 

4 incorporated into and made a part of this Act. Any person 

5 who violates subsection (a) shall be subject to the penalties 

6 and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 

7 the Federal Trade Commission Act. 

8 SEC. 4. CONVERSION THERAPY DEFINED. 

9 The term ‘‘conversion therapy’’— 

10 (1) means any practices or treatments by any 

11 person that seek to change another individual’s sex12 ual orientation or gender identity, including efforts 

13 to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to 

14 eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or 

15 feelings toward individuals of the same gender if 

16 such person receives monetary compensation in ex17 change for such services; and 

18 (2) does not include practices that— 

19 (A) provide assistance to an individual un20 dergoing a gender transition, or 

21 (B) provide acceptance, support, and un22 derstanding of clients or facilitation of clients’ 

23 coping, social support, and identity exploration 

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1 neutral interventions to prevent or address un2 lawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, 

3 so long as such efforts do not seek to change sexual 

4 orientation or gender identity. 

5 SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY. 

6 If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 

7 provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be un8 constitutional, the remainder of this Act, and its applica9 tion to any person or circumstance shall not be affected 

10 thereby. 

Æ 


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