While many people have given up on their New Year’s resolutions a few weeks into the year, Wisconsin Republicans have already made big progress on one of theirs—to make life as difficult as possible for struggling LGBTQIA youth with less-than-accepting adults in their lives. And they succeeded in spite of not having the votes!

In 2020, the state board that licenses counselors, therapists, and social workers barred these professionals from using so-called conversion therapy, a discredited practice that seeks to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity and that has been linked to mental health harm and increased suicidal risk. Included as one bullet in a section defining unprofessional conduct, the step seemed obvious to those who think such rules should protect consumers—as uncontroversial as saying plumbers shouldn’t install lead pipes, or that your stylist shouldn’t use harmful dyes. After all, every major medical and mental health organization in the country knows this stuff is bad news.

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