Conversion therapy ban in Green Bay dies in committee, citing redundancies and timing

GREEN BAY – An effort to adopt a law that would have banned conversion therapy in the city of Green Bay failed to get through committee Monday evening.

"The issues we're talking about here are practices that torture children because of their sexual preference," said Green Bay City Council member Randy Scannell, who introduced the agenda item. "And I should hope that we can all agree that torturing children and young adolescents — no matter what we think or believe — is wrong."

Conversion therapy is a widely discredited practice that attempts to "cure" LGBTQ+ people by changing or repressing any sexual identity other than heterosexual, or gender identity other than what was assigned at birth. Some methods that have been reported include "corrective" rape or sexual assault, imprisonment and kidnapping, physical abuse, electroconvulsive shock therapy, hormone treatments, and "aversion therapy," which involves pairing an unwanted behavior with discomfort, according to Oxford University Press.

Green Bay City Council members Jennifer Grant and William Morgan voted to receive and place the agenda item on file after 45 minutes of discussion at the Protection and Policy committee. Two members of the public spoke, one for and one against a conversion therapy ban, and three City Council members, Jesse Brunette, Mark Steuer, and Brian Johnson, also weighed in on the matter, although they are not on the Protection and Policy committee.

Scannell had hoped Green Bay would become the 15th Wisconsin city to adopt a citywide conversion therapy ban, joining Appleton, Cudahy, Eau Claire, Glendale, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Shorewood, Sun Prairie, Superior and West Allis.

At the state level, bills have come and gone to ban conversion therapy. Last year, Republicans halted Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration from enacting a ban. A new bill prohibiting conversion therapy, first introduced in February, is expected to be discussed next year.

Evers did sign an executive order in 2021 that instructs the state’s Department of Health Services, Department of Children and Families, and Department of Corrections to update policies and “expressly disallow” payment of state and federal funds for conversion therapy on minors, according to the Trevor Project.

Grant, Morgan, Brunette and Johnson argued that one reading of the ordinance didn't allow enough time by both the public and council members to truly weigh in on the matter and give it due attention before the Common Council meeting on March 19.

"This is bad government. I've only seen this since Friday, I spent the weekend trying to go on the internet for something I'd never heard of before," Morgan said. "I'm going to vote no on this."

But unlike Grant and Morgan, Johnson emphasized the ordinance itself deserved time with staff to be thoroughly researched and brought back for a second round of consideration.

But that motion, brought by Scannell, failed.

Grant and Morgan also argued that laws already exist to prevent children and adolescents from being tortured in the ways that Scannell suggested they were: with electroshock therapy, denial of food and water, and bullying.

"I really think our staff's time is valuable and, unless I see that this ordinance does something higher than what the state level does, I think we're creating a false hope that we can make something better and I don't think that's fair to that community that may have some real problems that we have to think about," Grant said.

Conversion therapy is a harmful practice, says every major mental health organization

Conversion therapy is considered a harmful practice by the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Association of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and National Association of Social Workers, as well as the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

Its practice on minors has been banned across 22 states and the District of Columbia, according to Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank focused on equity. Wisconsin only partially bans conversion therapy for minors so is not one of the 22 states, it says.

The American Psychological Association notes that, despite its common name, it's not a form of therapy. On the contrary, every major mental health organization has issued warnings about the risk of dangers associated with conversion efforts.

The Public Policy Research Portal at Cornell University identified 47 peer-reviewed studies on conversion therapy and concluded that there is no credible evidence that sexual orientation can be changed through therapeutic interventions. On the flip side, efforts to convert or repress sexuality can lead to depression, suicidality, anxiety, social isolation and decreased capacity for intimacy.

Some studies, such as one from Williams Institute at University of California Los Angeles, concluded that lesbian, gay and bisexual people who underwent conversion therapy were nearly twice as likely to consider or attempt suicide.

The practice is four times likelier to come from a spiritual adviser than it is from a licensed therapist, according to the Williams Institute.

A panel on conversion therapy pushed council member to communicate ordinance

Gloria Eastman, who's challenging Brown County Board member Dan Theno in District 5, had moderated a panel at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Feb. 29 on conversion therapy bans: the harm conversion therapy does and why lawmakers need to push for banning the practice. Eastman, who identifies as nonbinary, said they personally witnessed the harms of conversion therapy firsthand.

The harm became clear to Eastman while studying to be an evangelical minister at North Central University in Minneapolis in 2008. The college is owned and operated by 11 Assemblies of God districts in the upper Midwest. Any students discovered to be LGBTQ+ would be forced to go to conversion therapy or face expulsion.

"I have seen what conversion therapy can do. It destroys people's mental health, their ability to contribute in a group. I have seen that it does significantly more harm than good," Eastman said.

Eastman, whose panel inspired Scannell to bring forward a communication about this, told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that conversion bans are important because "if it helps even one person from being put through conversion therapy, that is a lifesaver."

Eastman said they recognized that religious establishments, such as schools within the Diocese of Green Bay, would not be affected by such ordinances because of religious freedoms and, importantly, because religious or spiritual advisers don't tend to have a state counseling license.

In the summer of 2022, the Diocese of Green Bay announced a new policy for students, staff and volunteers of its schools. It bans individuals from using pronouns, clothing and bathrooms that don't conform to their sex assigned at birth.

The policy also says the diocese supports and encourages counseling for people who "suffer from or are diagnosed with gender dysphoria" by a licensed counselor who adheres to Catholic teachings. The diocese could not be reached for comment on conversion therapy, or the possibility a ban might entail.

"Making sure that our public health does not contain (sexual orientation change efforts) is so important," Eastman said. "Everyone should feel safe going to a licensed therapist and talking about their sexual orientation or their gender identity. That's the goal."

Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Conversion therapy ban in Green Bay dies in committee