LGBTQ+ people protest in Florida over Republican conversion therapy bill

Bill mandates insurance carriers cover discredited practice and would force people to list sex assigned at birth on driver's licenses

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ people gathered on the steps of the Florida state house on Wednesday to protest against a first-in-the-nation bill that critics say would raise health insurance costs for all state residents.

The Republican-backed proposal, house bill 1639, mandates that insurance carriers cover conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice whose practitioners falsely claim to be able to change the sexual orientation or identity of LGBTQ+ people.