Murphy Woodhouse/KJZZ

Sonoran State Deputy Rosa Elena Trujillo speaks in favor of her bill to ban so-called conversion therapies.

She was speaking in favor of her bill to ban so-called conversion therapies, practices intended to change sexual orientation or gender identity that the United Nations says can amount to torture.

With just two "no" votes, the measure passed by an overwhelming margin. Sonora is now the 13th Mexican state to approve such a measure.

For Erica Salinas, a filmmaker who experienced conversion therapy as a young woman in Sonora and was a key organizer in the LGBTQ coalition pushing for passage, the vote was a personal victory.

“For me, as a survivor of the banned therapy, conversion therapy, it means social justice,” she said, adding that she hopes “nobody ever goes through what I went through again.”

Murphy Woodhouse/KJZZ

Abraham Carreño (left) and Erica Salinas were two key advocates pushing for the conversion therapy ban approved by the Sonoran Congress on Dec. 6, 2022. After months of hard work, they share a victorious embrace.

For Abraham Carreño, another coalition member, the bill’s passage is a sign of the Sonoran LGTBQ movement’s growing power.

“As you can see, we are no longer a minority,” he said. “Maybe statistically we are a minority, but because of our allies we are no longer a minority in Congress, we are no longer a minority in society.”

In recent years the coalition has chalked up a number of significant legislative victories, but Carreño said much work remains to be done.