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Wife of N.H. Education Commissioner Urges Lawmakers to Kill Bill Banning Gay Conversion Therapy

The wife of state Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut is urging lawmakers to oppose a billthat would ban gay conversion therapy for minors.

On Monday Kathy Edelblut sent an email to all state reps urging them to oppose the ban on gay conversion therapy. That's a controversial process where certain therapists claim they can change a young person's sexual orientation.

In the email, Edelblut says the bill would interfere with clinical relationships and undermine parental rights.

The bill's prime sponsor, Democratic State Rep Ed Butler, who is gay himself, flatly denies those claims.

“I wondered how it was that the Education Commissioner’s wife could be as poorly educated on this issue as the email indicates.”

The bill to ban conversion therapy was voted down last month by a single vote in the House. But a parliamentary maneuver may allow it to have another vote this session.

Jason Moon is a senior reporter and producer on the Document team. He has created longform narrative podcast series on topics ranging from unsolved murders, to presidential elections, to secret lists of police officers.
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