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US cities lead action to ban anti-LGBT ‘conversion therapy’
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“When you are forcing somebody to repress who they really are, or at least the discovery of who they are – that’s not freedom, that’s not the Gospel,” Dylan Gunnels, a LGBT rights advocate and survivor of ‘conversion therapy’ told openDemocracy.

Last month, Gunnels shared his experience with the city council of Columbia, South Carolina, where he lives. He described his own “psychological trauma” after enduring efforts to change his sexuality, saying: “Science shows [it] is more harmful than helpful.”

South Carolina's state capital is a recent example of a trend that has spread across the US – at least 90 cities, counties and other municipalities have now taken action against controversial ’conversion therapy’ practices, which attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Almost half (43) have done so since 2019.

Petition: Make sure you’re not funding anti-gay ‘conversion therapy’ After a six-month openDemocracy investigation, major aid donors and NGOs have said they will investigate anti-LGBT ‘conversion therapy’ at health facilities run by groups they fund. But unlike the other aid donors, US aid agency PEPFAR has not responded at all. Please sign this petition to show that it must take action now. Sign the petition

Columbia’s city council passed initial approval on 4 May for an ordinance making it illegal “to provide conversion therapy or reparative therapy to a minor […] if the provider receives compensation for such services”. It was passed in a final vote on 16 June.

These practices have been condemned by dozens of medical associations globally and are “really terrible, discredited and harmful”, said Logan Casey, senior policy researcher at the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) civil society group, based in Colorado.

Casey attributes action against ’conversion therapy’ at the local level to “a growth in public awareness”. It “really flips a switch for folks that this is still a contemporary issue, and something needs to be done about it to protect children,” he said.

“It breaks my heart to understand that a young person would be subjected to such things,” Columbia council member Tameika Isaac Devine told openDemocracy.

The Trevor Project, which advocates for bans on ’conversion therapy’, found in a 2020 survey that 10% of LGBTQ youth had experienced these practices and “reported more than twice the rate of attempting suicide in the past year” compared to those who had not.

Local action – and opposition

Moves to ban ’conversion therapy’ appear to have gained momentum city by city, building public support and political power. So far this year, seven county and city governments passed bans, and at least one other (Norman, Oklahoma) is considering an ordinance.

The local human rights commission in Norman (a city of approximately 120,000 people) recently voted to recommend an ordinance prohibiting medical professionals from giving minors ’conversion therapy’.

These local laws typically prohibit “conversion therapies” for minors (under-18s) provided by healthcare professionals licensed by the state, but many do not prevent such practices if they’re carried out by religious organisations.

Prominent conservative groups that oppose LGBT rights, as well as some Republican lawmakers, have fervently opposed these bans.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia have also passed legislation banning “conversion therapies” on minors, the latest being Utah and Virginia last year. Most of these bans were passed with bipartisan support; eight were signed off by Republican governors.

This year, at least three dozen bills to prohibit or restrict ’conversion therapy’ have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, but few have received a hearing.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/us-cities-ban-anti-lgbt-conversion-therapy/
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