Duluth considers conversion therapy ban

The City Council could vote on the ordinance as soon as Dec. 16.

December 10, 2019 at 5:23AM
While Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, spoke on an amendment about conversion therapy on the House Floor, over one hundred protesters with Outfront Minnesota sang and cheered outside. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, April 25, 2019 It has been a hectic week at the Minnesota State Legislature with long intense floor debates on a wide range of omnibus bills that will ultimately head to conference committees.
FILE-The Minnesota Legislature had looked at passing a statewide conversion therapy ban, that failed. Duluth is looking to become the first Greater Minnesota city to pass one, after Minneapolis recently did. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

DULUTH – A family physician, a child psychologist and a church ministry worker were among those who spoke at Monday night's City Council meeting in favor of a proposed ordinance that could make the city the first in Greater Minnesota to ban conversion therapy.

Council Member Gary Anderson, a gay man who married his husband after Minnesota legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, said while conversion therapy is not "an epidemic problem" in Duluth, he brought the proposal forward with Council President Noah Hobbs to offer support and protection to youth.

"Practitioners who use dangerous and discredited practices need to be held accountable. So-called conversion therapy doesn't work and is harmful to our young people," Anderson said in the statement released by OutFront Minnesota, a state LGBT advocacy group.

At Monday night's meeting, Anderson added that he introduced the measure "because of lack of action at the Minnesota state legislature on this exact issue" — a tactic that's become increasingly common for cities when state lawmakers can't reach agreements on issues.

A proposed statewide conversion therapy ban failed in the Legislature more than six months ago. Activists are looking to local lawmakers to take up the issue in the hopes that it will pressure state legislators to act.

Minneapolis recently became the first Minnesota city to ban conversion therapy, and Superior joined a host of Wisconsin cities prohibiting the practice in August.

Opponents to similar bans across the country have argued such ordinances violate freedom of religion or speech or laws that say some states regulate medical practices. Tampa Bay's conversion therapy ban was challenged in court and struck down.

Duluth's ban would apply to minors and be enforced through fines, which were not spelled out in the proposed ordinance. Unlike Minneapolis, Duluth's ordinance would treat the practice like a public nuisance that citizens could report to the police, city clerk or human rights office.

Jamie Conniff, a family medicine physician in Duluth who is gay, says he often works with young LGBT patients, many of whom he says "struggle against the message something's wrong with them."

"My patients don't deserve that," Conniff said at the council meeting. "They deserve to be loved and they deserve to live in a community that takes proactive steps to ensure that no licensed professional can defraud families and harm young people with a process designed to cure them of who they are."

After the ordinance's first reading Monday, the City Council could vote on the measure as soon as Dec. 16.

Katie Galioto • 612-673-4478

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about the writer

Katie Galioto

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Katie Galioto is a business reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune covering the Twin Cities’ downtowns.

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