Ohio city bans conversion therapy for minors

Akron, Ohio, adopted an emergency measure banning conversion therapy for minors on Monday, becoming the 11th city in the state to ban the practice.

“I’m incredibly proud to add Akron to the growing list of communities recognizing the harmful impacts of conversion therapy and taking a stand against the practice,” Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, a Democrat, said Monday in a news release. “Akron has proven itself time and time again to be a welcoming, diverse place and taking this step is another way of making sure our community is inclusive of everyone.”

Legislation banning conversion therapy — a discredited practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity — was submitted early Monday to the Akron city council by Horrigan and four of the council’s members. The measure was approved unanimously by the entire 13-member city council during a Monday evening meeting.

The new ordinance, effective immediately, makes it unlawful for any health care professional to knowingly subject a minor to conversion therapy, which is defined in the ordinance as a procedure that seeks to change a person’s gender identity or expression or eliminate sexual or romantic feelings toward a person of the same gender.

The measure does not bar health care providers from assisting transgender youth or adults in their social or medical transition and does not prevent mental health professionals from providing social support to LGBTQ young people that affirms their identities.

The new law also grants the Akron Civil Rights Commission — appointed by Horrigan and approved by the city council — authorization to investigate possible violations and issue penalties.

The move comes just over a week after the Cleveland city council voted to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, which is now punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Ten other Ohio cities — Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Kent, Athens and Reynoldsburg — have passed measures banning conversion therapy for minors.

Major medical associations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association have condemned conversion therapy practices as harmful and based on an “unfounded misconception of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

A 2020 Williams Institute report found that lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the U.S. that had undergone conversion therapy were nearly twice as likely to report experiencing suicidal thoughts. The same study found that 7 percent of LGB 18- to 59-year-olds had experienced conversion therapy at some point in their lives, most of them from religious leaders.

Roughly a third of adults said they had received conversion therapy from a health care provider, according to the Williams Institute report.

In a report published last year by The Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization, 13 percent of LGBTQ young people reported being subjected to conversion therapy, including 83 percent who said they were exposed to the practice as minors.

At the state level, 20 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws or policies that ban conversion therapy for individuals under 18, according to the Movement Advancement Project, and six states have partial bans.

Three states — Alabama, Georgia and Florida — are located in a federal judicial circuit with an injunction that prevents the enforcement of conversion therapy bans.

Ohio is one of 21 states that have no statewide policies in place that ban or limit conversion therapy practices.