LGBTQ activists and their legislative supporters are putting the heat on Senate Republicans to pass a ban on gay conversion therapy this session.

A bill to do that has died in the GOP-led Senate the last two years, and Tuesday House Bill 1156 passed out of the Democrat-led House 38-27.

State Sen. Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, the bill’s Senate sponsor, sent a text blast to his supporters Tuesday evening urging them to send an e-mail to Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, asking for “a fair hearing and to put it up for a full vote.”

Meaning getting enough Republican votes to let it out of committee. On the floor, there are 18 Republicans and 17 Democrats, so anything could happen.

Republican Rep. Dan Thurlow of Grand Junction voted with the Democrats Tuesday.

“We have a responsibility to protect Colorado children from the harmful and discredited practice of gay conversion therapy,” the bill’s House sponsor, Paul Rosenthal, D-Denver, said in a statement after the House vote.

“The nation’s leading mental health associations warn against the dangers of this practice and studies have shown that minors being subjected to this therapy are at a higher risk of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and suicide.”

He called it a “dangerous and discredited practice.”

Opponents in committee hearings the past three years have argued that it’s not the state’s place to meddle in a family’s decisions about counseling for their children.

The ban would apply only to licensed mental health professionals and not clergy or other counseling.

One Colorado, the state’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, had hundreds of supporters rallying at the Capitol two weeks ago, the day before the ban passed out of its first committee.

“These harmful practices use rejection, shame, and psychological abuse to force young people to try to change who they are,” executive director Daniel Ramos said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many young people are coerced and subjected to conversion therapy, which puts them at increased risk for depression, substance abuse, and suicide.

“No young person should ever be shamed by a mental health professional into thinking that who they are or who they love is wrong. As this bill moves over to the Colorado Senate, we hope that Republican leadership will give the bill a fair committee assignment and hearing.”

Another bill the LGBTQ lobby is trying to pass for a third year in a row is a provision to make it easier for transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificate.

House Bill 1122 is up for its first hearing before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday afternoon.