Milwaukee has banned forced conversion therapy on minors.
On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Common Council passed an ordinance that bans ex-gay therapy on LGBTQ youth. This makes Milwaukee the first municipality in the state of Wisconsin to enact a bill of this sort.
The law was sponsored by Alderman Chevalier Johnson who said during the Tuesday meeting that the practice is harmful to children.
"Kids end up committing suicide because of the practice of conversion therapy being inflicted upon them," he said. "This is about protecting kids."
Not everyone agreed with Johnson however, as the regulation had two votes against it. Luckily, they were outnumbered by twelve other votes.
Despite some pushback, many people and organizations are applauding the Milwaukee Common Council. One of which was the Human Rights Campaign, which said:
"No child should be subjected to the abusive practice of so-called conversion therapy, which has been rejected by every major medical and mental health organization," HRC Wisconsin State Manager Wendy Strout said in a statement. "We thank the Milwaukee Common Council and the team at the Milwaukee LGBT Center for putting the well-being and safety of our children first, and hope their leadership can be an example to cities across the state."
While Milwaukee is just the first municipality in the state of Wisconsin to ban conversion therapy, many other municipalities across the country have done the same.
In addition, 11 states, Connecticut, Washington, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, and New Mexico, have all-out banned the practice too.
h/t: Chicago Pride
