Kansas City bans conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors, the 2nd Missouri city to do so
Kansas City on Thursday became the second city in Missouri to ban controversial conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth.
Columbia passed a similar ban last month.
The ordinance, approved unanimously by the City Council, will prohibit mental health professionals from using conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, a practice that endeavors to change a gay or transgender person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee unanimously endorsed the proposal last week.
Critics say the practice is dangerous and can lead to depression or suicide among young people. Some professional groups for mental health practitioners, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, find it lacks scientific evidence and oppose it.
The ban that council members passed Thursday will apply only to minors and only to licensed medical or mental health professionals, including counselors, psychologists and therapists. It does not bar religious leaders from speaking with youth about their sexuality or gender identity.
In committee, numerous advocates, religious leaders and area LGBTQ residents spoke up in opposition to conversion therapy, including some who said they were abused or fell into depression or thoughts of suicide as a result of the practice. More than half of young people who have been through conversion therapy reported a suicide attempt in the last year, according to a survey by the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth.
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph regarded the ban as overly broad and an “inappropriate encroachment by a city’s police power into the work of professionals who are already well regulated by professional licensing standards and state law.”
Several individuals associated with Desert Stream Living Waters, which provides Christian-based sexual counseling, said they identified as gay earlier in their lives but decided to pursue religion and thought that option should be open to LGBTQ youth.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 4:39 PM.
