SC senator asks attorney general to oppose Columbia LGBTQ conversion therapy ban
A Spartanburg County S.C. senator has asked the state attorney general to oppose a would-be city of Columbia ordinance that would prohibit professional therapists from offering conversion therapy that attempts to change the sexual orientation of LGBTQ minors.
Republican State Sen. Josh Kimbrell penned a May 13 letter to S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson in an effort to determine the legality of the city’s measure and to ask the Wilson to take legal action against the city if it passes the ordinance.
“This ordinance will impose a fine on professional counselors if they do not affirm LGBTQ preferences, even if doing so would violate the therapist’s deeply held religious beliefs,” Kimbrell wrote. The senator wrote that he thinks the ordinance would violate First Amendment rights.
The Columbia conversion therapy ban ordinance sailed through with unanimous support on a May 4 first vote. The council is set to receive legal advice about the measure in a closed-door executive session on Tuesday, and could take a second and final reading on the ordinance after that.
As outlined in the proposed ordinance, conversion therapy — sometimes referred to as reparative therapy or ex-gay therapy — is considered a “treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.” Essentially it is an attempt, through therapy, to change someone’s sexual orientation from gay, lesbian or bisexual to straight.
The ordinance would prohibit “any provider to provide conversion therapy or reparative therapy to a minor within city limits if the provider receives compensation for such services.” The penalty would be civil, not criminal, and would carry a $500 fine.
“I think this is a violation of the concept of the First Amendment,” Kimbrell told The State Monday morning. “You can’t tell somebody, as a private practitioner, what they can and cannot say to a client, particularly a child who is under the direction of that child’s parents. What the city of Columbia is proposing is unconstitutional on its face.”
Attorney general’s office spokesman Robert Kittle said Monday that the office has received Kimbrell’s letter, and is reviewing the matter. Wilson, a Republican, is no stranger to challenging city of Columbia ordinances. He successfully sued the city over a trio of gun control laws last year.
In November 2020, a federal appeals court struck down a pair of youth conversion therapy bans in Florida, one in the city of Boca Raton and another in Palm Beach County. According to a report from NBC News, the court agreed with two therapists who said their rights to free speech had been violated.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Maryland tossed out a therapist’s lawsuit challenging that state’s youth conversion therapy ban.
To date, 20 states and Washington, D.C., have banned conversion therapy for minors. Dozens of cities and counties across the nation have opposed the practice as well. For instance, Lincoln, Nebraska, banned conversion therapy for youth in February, and Lexington, Kentucky, is on the verge of prohibiting it. Other nations have also banned conversion therapy for youth, including Germany.
A host of medical organizations, including the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, have taken positions against conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth.
Kimbrell said even if the attorney general doesn’t step in against the city’s proposed conversion therapy ban, he has filed legislation that would add psychologists and counselors to the state’s “right of conscience” laws, a bill he thinks would set aside the city’s ordinance. However, that bill, filed May 12 just as this year’s legislative session ended, likely won’t be considered until next year. There are eight co-sponsors currently on that bill.
Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, a candidate for mayor this year, proposed the city’s youth conversion therapy measure. She noted Tuesday that the Florida cases were not in South Carolina’s federal court district.
“Other courts have upheld similar bans,” Devine said. “I’m comfortable with moving forward with the ordinance. ... It is sad that the legislature has spent the entire session trying to enact laws that actually hurt South Carolinians instead of paying attention to things that really make a difference in the lives of the people we serve.”
Devine said Council members have received messages in opposition and in support of its proposed youth conversion therapy ban. She said much of opposition has come from outside of Columbia.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 10:57 AM.
