Why Banning Conversion Therapy Is A Must

Brandon West, Ohio — Conversion Therapy is a "practice" which LGBTQIA+ youth are subject to abuse, brainwashing, and horrific torture to change who they are and who they are born to love. Banning Conversion Therapy not only outlaws and prohibits the practice, it prevents it from popping up in places where it may not have been in the first place and, according to the Ohio Capital Journal, would decrease youth suicides as well. "Conversion therapy bans could prevent hundreds of youth suicides over the next decade"

📷Photo by WEWS. With Ohio and many other states having mostly republican and far-right legislators, it would be hard to introduce legislation that would, state-wide, prohibit and condemn conversion therapy. The workaround? Your local city council! Some states have cities that have at least some elected progressives, equality advocates, etc., and if that's the case, then it would be more possible to get conversion therapy prohibited and condemned by a voted-on ordinance within your city, which could save someone's life especially if someone was actively going through conversion therapy at the time. Let's delve deeper into what an ordinance is. Ordinances are basically local laws within your city. It could be anything from the rezoning of property, and pet-ownership restriction, all the way up to prohibiting conversion therapy. This differs from a resolution that only has the city you are living in affirm support of something, urge action, or a type of declaration which is powerful in its own way yet does nothing to prohibit or outlaw something directly.

"How can I do something like this?" What you can do is locate your city's ordinance page, most cities have this if not all of them where you can search up local ordinances. You can then search for keywords such as "conversion therapy" and first see if your city already outlaws this practice, if you can't find anything and aren't sure still, you can always call your Clerk of Council's office and ask. If they do, good for your city! If not, you can contact your city council members, any that you think would be in support of prohibiting conversion therapy, and ask for a meeting to discuss enacting such an ordinance. Bring all the research, other ordinances from other cities, articles, etc., that you can to further help your council member create such an ordinance that would work for your city the best. In the meantime gather support from other council members, local LGBTQIA+ organizations, community members, and more and voice it/have them voice it to your city council, mayor, and whoever else you think would be a beneficial ally in getting your specific ordinance passed.

Wrapping Up Whether you decide to take this as an initiative to get started on banning conversion therapy in your city or just a piece of information you can pass along, thank you for reading. Banning conversion therapy may seem hard or like a daunting task, but in reality, it's not too complicated and you'd be saving LGBTQIA+ youth in the process. If you have any questions, direct message me on Twitter, @BrandonWest01, or through email at brandon.dan.west@gmail.com