A bill to prohibit conversion therapy in Iowa has failed to move forward. House Study Bill 698, a bill to eliminate conversion therapy for minors aiming to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of an individual, was unable to advance to the floor for a vote. Representative Joe Mitchell is a sub-committee member for this bill, and says the bill will have to wait another year before it can be brought up again, “As of right now, for this year, it’s dead but the important thing is we had the initial discussion on it, and make sure we come back and look at it again, and see what we can do to improve the bill so we can get general consensus from both sides of the aisle and I’m sure the legislation will go through.” He tells KCII News that it failed due to disagreements among the sub-committee on exact language. Mitchell said that some legislators wanted religious groups, such as pastors and priests, to be excluded from being barred from talking to minors about their sexuality. Other legislators wanted to eliminate all of talk therapy and focus solely on banning physical conversion therapy, such as abuse.  According to the Human Rights Campaign, 19 states protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy.