President Biden signed an executive order aimed at curbing discrimination against transgender youth and drying up federal funding for the discredited practice of “conversion therapy.” The executive order asks the federal health and education departments to expand access to gender-affirming medical care and find new ways to counter a flurry of bills passed in states by conservative lawmakers this year that ban these treatments for transgender youth. The order asks federal agencies to ensure that federally funded programs do not offer conversion therapy, which tries to force
LGBTQ+ youth to change their sexual orientation, and the Federal Trade Commission to consider policing such practices that seek to change a patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity as deceptive businesses.