With a unanimous vote taken on Monday,
Madison became the second city in Wisconsin to ban therapies that
attempt to alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of gay,
lesbian, bisexual or transgender youth.
Such therapies go by names such as
“conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy” or “ex-gay
therapy.”
According to Wisconsin Public Radio,
the ordinance was sponsored by alders Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, Amanda
Hall and Arvina Martin.
Madison's ban only applies to services
which are provided for free.
“I think it really serves as a
statement of the values of the city, and making sure that we are
really making it clear that this kind of practice is really
unacceptable in not recognizing the identity of our LGBT community,"
Bidar-Sielaff said.
Milwaukee approved a similar ban in
March.
“[T]he fact that Milwaukee took
action pushed us,” Bidar-Sielaff
said.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, praised the move.
"No child should be subjected to
abuse – and that’s exactly what this dangerous, discredited
practice of so-called 'conversion therapy' really is," said HRC
Wisconsin State Director Wendy Strout. "That’s why this
abusive practice has been condemned by every major medical and mental
health organization, and why 14 states and Washington, D.C. have
taken action to protect minors from conversion therapy.”
Similar legislation has been enacted in
New Hampshire, Hawaii, Maryland, Washington, Connecticut, California,
Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, Rhode
Island, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. Lawmakers in
Delaware
have approved a similar bill.
(Related: UK
government announces plan to ban “ex-gay” therapy.)