KC slows down push for new conversion therapy ban to get LGBTQ support
The City Council wants Kansas City LGBTQ leaders to have a say on how the city prohibits conversion therapy in the future.
Council members on Thursday approved a resolution directing the city’s LGBTQ Commission to provide a recommendation on how the city should replace a recently repealed ban on conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice of attempting to change a gay or transgender person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The resolution comes as council members are proposing two different ways on how to replace the repealed ban that was likely no longer enforceable because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar law in Colorado.
Last week, Mayor Quinton Lucas and 6th District Council member Johnathan Duncan unveiled a proposed ordinance to replace the repealed ban with a new one meant to survive the court’s ruling. That proposal does not specifically reference conversion therapy. Instead, it prohibits “dangerous and life-threatening therapeutic practices in exchange of compensation.”
Council member Crispin Rea, who represents the Fourth District at Large, said Thursday that he has also proposed an ordinance for re-enacting the ban “that goes a different route.” Rea did not provide specifics about his proposed ordinance, but noted that it was crafted after speaking to LGBTQ groups like the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization focused on LGBTQ youth.
With competing proposals, Rea said the resolution provides more time for the council members to work out the differences between the two proposals and to ensure that it is supported by the LGBTQ community.
Prior to the meeting, Lucas said in a statement to The Star that he and Duncan had chosen to wait on putting their proposed ordinance to the City Council after speaking with local LGBTQ leaders and Rea. He said they also want to ensure that local LGBTQ leaders have a say and that whatever is enacted will be able to stand up to legal challenges.
“Based on the discussion on the call and with LGBTQ community leaders, we all have agreed to provide the community more time to review the legislation, engage in more town hall opportunity, and to produce not only the strongest piece of legislation from a legal perspective, but also one with broad-based community support,” Lucas said.
The City Council repealed its previous ban on May 21. The decision came as the Missouri Attorney General’s Office is suing the city on behalf of a group of Christian counselors. The case against the city was bolstered by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that found a similar ban in Colorado is unconstitutional for limiting free speech. It also likely made the city’s previous ordinance unenforceable.
Council members narrowly passed the ordinance repealing the ban by a 7-5 vote, with some voting against the measure as a form of protest.
Lucas and Duncan both voted to repeal the ordinance. Duncan faced significant backlash from constituents after the vote and later said in a social media post that he “made the wrong decision.”
During the meeting Thursday, Duncan said that he’s since spoken with more than 100 members of the local LGBTQ community who have told him that they felt left out of the conversation when the ban was repealed.
“I look forward to continuing to have those conversations and working to ensure they have a seat at the table, which is where they belong, in crafting legislation that is for them,” Duncan said. “We have to do that with them.”
