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From Councilors Madigan, Dickens and Faidley:
Request that council undertake a discussion of a "conversion therapy ban" to protect the physical and psychological well-being of minors in Roeland Park, including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or questioning youth, from exposure to the serious harms and risks caused by conversion therapy or reparative therapy by licensed providers.
The ban fits well into our Community for All Ages status and could be considered as a stand-alone ordinance or an amendment to the current city NDO. The amount requested would cover costs to draft legal language similar to a ban passed by the City of Kansas City, MO in 2019.
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Conversion Therapy also known as reparative therapy, ex-gay therapy, or sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts, is a range of discredited practices aimed at changing one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Professionals in education, social work, health, mental health and counseling including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry have determined that there is no scientifically valid evidence that supports the practice of conversion therapy. These professionals have determined that there is no evidence that conversion therapy is effective or that an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity can be changed by conversion therapy. They have also determined that conversion therapy is not only ineffective, but is substantially dangerous to an individual’s mental and physical well-being and has also been shown to contribute to depression, self-harm, low self-esteem, family rejection, and suicide.
Supporting documents include:
1) Kansas City, MO ordinance 190902
2) Trevor Project Language
3) Kansas House Bill introduced in 2020:
HB2483: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2019_20/measures/hb2483/
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