Seattle began the month of August by becoming the third United States city to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth.
Conversion therapy, which was officially endorsed by the GOP in the 2016 Republican Party Platform, is a debunked and dangerous Christian “treatment” that aims to “cure” LGBTQ youth of their queerness. It has been condemned by almost every major medical association in the United States as well as the United Nations Committee Against Torture for being dangerous, immoral, and ineffective. As Lorena González, the city council member who introduced the bill to ban conversion therapy, said, “Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgender is not an illness. Nor is it something that needs a cure.”
Conversion therapy can lead to overwhelming to mental health issues for queer youth, oftentimes even suicide. However, many Republicans, including Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, still support the harmful religious practice. Only five states and the District of Columbia have banned conversion therapy, and though President Barack Obama has said it should be banned, no federal legislation has made it through the Republican Congress.
“Nearly 1 in 3 LGBTQ youth may experience some form of conversion therapy upon coming out,” wrote Lorena Gonzáles in her report on the practice. “Pursuing a conversion therapy ban in Seattle not only demonstrates solidarity with the LGBTQ community, but would also promote the health and well-being of local youth. It is, therefore, the interest of the City of Seattle and its residents to take clear, decisive action.”
In her testimony on Seattle’s new ordinance, council member Debora Juarez related the experiences of queer youth to the experience of Native American children forced to attend boarding schools to Americanize them.
“Conversion therapy is the 20th century or 21st century version of what happened to my people all in the name in assimilation. We were forcibly taken from our families, from our children. I am literally one generation removed from that practice.”
Juarez concluded by addressing the LGBTQ community directly:
“It breaks my heart that we have to pass a law to recognize your humanity. So today, God bless you.”
