‘It’s wrong and harmful.’ Ann Arbor to ban gay conversion therapy for minors – MLive.com
ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor officials are taking steps to ban use of gay conversion therapy on minors.
“So-called conversion therapy is an abhorrent practice that tries to teach people that they’re somebody besides the beautiful selves that they are,” Mayor Christopher Taylor said.
“It’s wrong and harmful and it ought not to be inflicted upon anyone, and I’m glad that we are going to be doing what we can to prevent it here in Ann Arbor.”
The idea has been under discussion for over two years and finally went to City Council for a vote this week with support from the city’s Human Rights Commission.
Council voted unanimously to give the proposed ordinance its initial OK and it’s due back for final approval Aug. 16, when there will be a public hearing.
“So-called conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice that falsely promises to alter an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity or expression,” said Council Member Travis Radina, D-3rd Ward, one of the sponsors.
“It’s a practice that is especially harmful to minors and can lead to increased instances of depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, self-loathing, self-harm and suicide among a community that already experiences many of these challenges at higher rates. This inhumane and abusive practice has been unanimously rejected by credible and mainstream medical and mental health organizations for years, if not decades.”
The ordinance prohibits professional counseling providers from engaging in or attempting to engage in conversion therapy on a child under the age of 18.
Violations can be reported directly to the Ann Arbor Police Department and will be treated as civil infractions punishable by fines up to $500 each day a violation occurs.
“It is the intent of the city to protect the physical and psychological well-being of minors, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth, and to protect them from exposure to serious harms caused by efforts to change their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression through practices commonly known as conversion therapy, reparative therapy, or sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts,” the ordinance states.
The ordinance is sponsored by Taylor, Radina and Council Member Elizabeth Nelson.
Taylor credited students in his law school class for observing Ann Arbor’s lack of a ban.
Senior Assistant City Attorney Margaret Radabaugh, who worked on the ordinance with the Human Rights Commission, said the city isn’t aware of gay conversion therapy being practiced in Ann Arbor, but it’s a practice not often openly advertised.
The ordinance took probably a lot longer to work out than many would have liked, Radina said, noting discussions started before he was on council while he was the city’s LGBTQ liaison.
About 20 states and 70 cities and counties around the United States have banned the practice, Radina said, applauding Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for using her executive authority to ban the use of state and federal funds for it.
“Which is likely the limit of her executive authority without action by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which has repeatedly refused for years to even allow a vote on a statewide ban,” he said. “So, with the ongoing complicity in this abuse of LGBTQ minors by Republican leadership in Lansing, this requires progressive communities like ours to lead.”
Radina said he’s still calling on the Legislature to “end this antiquated practice statewide” by passing legislation sponsored by state Rep. Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield Township.
Council Member Jeff Hayner, D-1st Ward, asked why the city’s proposed ban is narrowly tailored to professional providers and not a broader outright ban on the practice.
He mentioned hearing a story on the radio about religious clergy practicing it in church and regretting it.
Working with the city attorney’s office, the Human Rights Commission talked about extending the ordinance as far as it could while keeping it legally enforceable, Radina said.
“Council always has the authority to expand it,” Radabaugh told council members.
Mentioning separation of church and state, she said the thinking was to have the ban apply generally to “providers” without specifically targeting religious providers.
The ordinance defines “provider” as “a person who is licensed by the state of Michigan to provide professional counseling, or who performs counseling as part of their professional training, under the Public Health Code of the State of Michigan, including but not limited to marriage and family therapists, medical practitioners, counselors, psychologists, psychotherapists, applied behavior analysts, and social workers.”
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