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The D.C. Council voted to ban conversion therapy that aims to change the sexual orientation or identify of minors who live in the city.

The Conversion Therapy for Minors Prohibition Amendment Act prohibits licensed mental health care providers from using practices that are designed to “change a person’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors, gender identity or expression, or to reduce or eliminate sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward a person of the same sex or gender.”

“By prohibiting conversion therapy, the District will be alleviating an underlying problem associated with a host of mental issues,” a Health committee report on the bill states. “The bill’s effective date will mark the end of a harmful practice that has taunted members of the LGBTQ community and thus a dramatic reduction of damage that will be imposed upon LGBTQ youth.”

The decision was heralded by the The National Center for Lesbian Rights.

“Today, the D.C. Council sent a powerful message to LGBT youth and their families that they are accepted, supported, and loved,” Samantha Ames, a NCLR staff attorney, said in a statement. “The Council has used its authority to protect our most vulnerable youth from dangerous and discredited pseudoscience that tells them who they are is wrong, and reaffirmed the consensus of every major medical and mental health organization that all children are born perfect, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Once signed by Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. will join California and New Jersey in banning the practice.