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Governor says no taxpayer funds to pay for conversion therapy

PRE News & Ideas | By George Olsen
Published August 2, 2019 at 5:44 PM EDT

Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order involving a controversial practice known as conversion therapy. The Governor on Friday signed Executive Order No. 97 that directs the state Department of Health and Human Services to take the appropriate steps needed to ensure no taxpayer dollars are used for conversion therapy for minors. Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Major medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have come out against the practice. The Governor’s Executive Order prohibits any medical or mental health provider receiving state or federal funds allocated to the state DHHS from using those funds for conversion therapy for patients under the age of 18. More than a dozen states have enacted laws to ban the practice. Similar legislation is pending in North Carolina.
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Gov. Roy Cooperconversion therapy
George Olsen
George Olsen is a 1977 Havelock High School graduate. He received his B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Carolina in 1982 where he got his first taste of non-commercial radio working for their student station WUSC. After graduation he worked about five years in commercial radio before coming to work at Public Radio East where he has remained since outside of a nearly 3-year stint as jazz and operations coordinator at WUAL in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the early 1990s. On his return to eastern North Carolina he hosted classical music for Public Radio East before moving into the Morning Edition host position and now can be heard on All Things Considered. He also hosts and produces The Sound, five hours of Americana, Roots Rock and Contemporary Folk weekday evenings on PRE Public Radio East News & Ideas, and is a news and feature producer for Public Radio East.
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