A New Jersey state Senate panel has advanced a bill that would bar licensed therapists from trying to convert minors from gay to heterosexual.

The Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens committee's vote on Monday moves the bill to the full Senate. It came after a hearing where lawmakers heard from people who said they had been harmed by such therapies, including a woman who said she was subjected to electrical shocks.

But opponents told the committee the ban would infringe on parents' ability to do what they think is best for their children.

California last year adopted a ban on so-called "conversion therapy."

 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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