A York Police vehicle is parked outside the station on Oct. 18, 2019.
Ian Sterling for WITF
York could ban conversion therapy. What does that mean?
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Gabriela Martínez/WITF
Ian Sterling for WITF
A York Police vehicle is parked outside the station on Oct. 18, 2019.
York City Council is considering a bill to ban conversion therapy, which is a practice that seeks to change the gender identity and sexual orientation of LGBTQ people.
The practice is discredited by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychoanalytic Association.
The measure would classify conversion therapy as an offense and would allow the city’s Human Relations Commission to investigate complaints made against providers.
“No medical or mental health professional shall engage, within the geographic boundaries of the City of York, in conversion therapy with a minor without regard to whether the mental health professional is compensated or receives any form of remuneration for his or her services,” according to the bill draft.
If the city’s Human Relations Commission investigates complaints about conversion therapy and finds there’s probable cause, the HRC would issue a charge and notify the state’s professional licensure board, which could revoke the provider’s license.
The push for this ordinance came largely from the city’s mayor, Michael Helfrich, who issued a proclamation condemning the practice and put forward the ordinance.
“It’s really a technique to make people hate themselves so they can change how they feel,” Helfrich said in a video address in May.
“This is something I believe we should be taking action on as a country, as a world, but we can start here in York City.”
Lou Rivera, the council member who introduced the ordinance, told the York Dispatch that he expects the measure to pass unanimously. City Council is expected to vote on the measure on Aug. 15.
Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf comforts Commissioner Carla Christopher Wilson, LGBTQ Affairs Commission as she speaks with the press. Governor Tom Wolf signed Executive Order 2022-2 to protect Pennsylvanians from conversion therapy. “Conversion therapy is a traumatic practice based on junk science that actively harms the people it supposedly seeks to treat,” said Gov. Wolf. “This discriminatory practice is widely rejected by medical and scientific professionals and has been proven to lead to worse mental health outcomes for LGBTQIA+ youth subjected to it. This is about keeping our children safe from bullying and extreme practices that harm them.” Harrisburg, PA – August 16, 2022
Conversion therapy seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation and behavior or a person’s gender identity and expression. According to the American Medical Association, groups or providers that engage in conversion therapy employ techniques such as “aversive conditioning” by depriving people of food and liquids or using electroshock. Sometimes they might use forms of mind-body therapy or hypnosis.
“Underlying these techniques is the assumption that any non-heterosexual, non-cisgender identities are mental disorders, and that sexual orientation and gender identity can and should be changed. This assumption is not based on medical and scientific evidence,” the American Medical Association wrote in an issue brief.
A 2020 study from UCLA School of Law found that transgender people were twice as likely to think about suicide or attempt it. That same study also found that about 7% of LGBTQ adults between ages 18 and 59 have undergone conversion therapy, and most of them had received it from a religious leader in their community.
Clare Twomey, executive director of York City’s HRC, said she has not heard any allegations concerning conversion therapy practices.
“We certainly have heard bits and pieces from religious groups offering conversion therapy to the parents for the children, but none specific recently,” Twomey said.
In general, she said, members of the LGBTQ community shy away from coming forward with discriminatory complaints out of fear or reluctance of what might happen if they out themselves.
However, Twomey said, the fact that conversion therapy complaints are not prevalent does not diminish the purpose of the ordinance. Part of it is making a statement that tells LGBTQ people grappling with discrimination that the city is on their side. It is setting the tone for creating safe spaces for people who wouldn’t ordinarily feel comfortable interacting with their local government, Twomey said.
In part, the proposed ordinance is a reaction to national rise in anti-LGBTQ sentiment, particularly against transgender people, she said.
“With everything that’s going on in the school districts in the county, especially against trans and LGBTQIA youth who are four times more likely to have to die successfully by suicide,” Twomey said. “So the message to them is ‘Look, your school right now your school district might be coming at you, but it’s not all of York that’s coming at you.’ In fact, if anything, we have a community here that you can reach out to to know that you’re supported.”
The ordinance would apply only to licensed for-profit therapists or doctors who practice conversion therapy. It would not apply to religious organizations. Only complaints related to providers based in York City would be enforceable, and the city’s HRC would keep a record of complaints lodged against providers offering the practice in other parts of York County.
Last August, former Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order that prohibits licensed providers or organizations that practice conversion therapy from receiving state Medicaid funds. Wolf’s order is not considered a ban on the practice though, since it does not penalize people employing conversion therapy techniques on patients.
State Reps. Jessica Benham, D-Allegheny, Izzy Smith Wade-El, D-Lancaster, and Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Phila., introduced a bill to ban conversion therapy. It was referred to the Health Committee in March, but no further action has been taken.
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