After the Kansas City Council repealed its ban on conversion therapy last month, a proposed ordinance aims to again restrict the practice.
The scientifically-discredited practice aims to “convert” a person, usually a minor, to a heterosexual lifestyle.
Kansas City had banned conversion therapy since 2019, but a divided City Council repealed that law after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling protected such talk therapy under the First Amendment. The Missouri Attorney General and a group of Christian counselors sued Kansas City and Jackson County over the ban earlier this year.
Council member Johnathan Duncan, who represents the city’s 6th District, voted in favor of the repeal. But he told KCUR’s Up To Date that he made the wrong choice.
“We didn't craft a replacement ban before we repealed the current ban, and that wasn't right,” Duncan said.
The new ordinance, created in collaboration with the city’s LGBTQ Commission, aims to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling by focusing on “dangerous” therapies. A city press release said it would specifically ban “receiving compensation for any non-medically sanctioned, dangerous and life-threatening therapeutic practice that increases the risk of suicide, self-harm, and depression.”
“We focus mostly on the harm and not the practice itself, right? So, if, if you're conducting a practice that leads to harm, that leads to the suicidal ideation and these harmful practices, it's as defined in the ordinance, then you are subject as a violation under this ban,” Duncan said.
The ordinance is expected to be introduced at the next full Council meeting on Thursday, June 11. However, it could still face legal challenges if passed.
Lucas said in a virtual town hall Sunday that the new proposed ban is "exceptionally well written" and the city is ready to defend it.
"The other thing that you will see when we come out with our replacement ordinance for conversion therapy is that it's going to be among the toughest in the country, and what I would do is say to conservative lawyers, bring it on," Lucas said.
- Kansas City Council 6th District member Johnathan Duncan
