Gov. Tim Walz and LGBTQ activists rallied at the state Capitol on Friday to demand that the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate pass a ban on “conversion therapy” for minors, a discredited practice that seeks to turn gay people straight. The proposal passed the Democratic-controlled House last year but an effort to amend it onto a larger bill on the Senate floor by Sen. Scott Dibble failed late in the session. Walz pointed out to a crowd of about 100 people in the Capitol rotunda that 19 other states have enacted conversion therapy bans, most recently conservative Utah last month, while a Republican-controlled legislative committee in Oklahoma approved a ban Wednesday.
