Whitehall became the 14th city in Ohio to ban conversion therapy and added more protections for the LGBTQ+ community at a city council meeting last week.
Whitehall City Council passed the 19-page law unanimously, prohibiting employment, public accommodation and housing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. The conversion therapy ban specifically prohibits licensed mental health professionals from using the practice on minors in Whitehall to try and change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Whitehall joins Columbus and Westerville as another area community that bans conversion therapy. Ohio has not taken up the issue statewide, but Ohio House Democrats have introduced legislation in the past to ban the practice.
Joseph Soza, who lives in Columbus near the Whitehall border, is an organizer with Equality Ohio. Soza told city council the law will help the LGBTQ+ community by increasing the number of communities where these protections apply.
"What that means is, at least between Columbus and Whitehall, no longer will I have this bizarre patchwork of not having rights here and having rights there," Soza said.
Soza said he had explicit legal protections in his home, but not in many of the businesses he frequented in Whitehall.
Conversion therapy has been condemned by every leading medical and mental health organization in the United States, including the American Psychiatric Association, The American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.
The groups have called it coercive and deeply harmful. The practice is believed to be linked to higher rates of depression, suicide, anxiety and other mental health disorders.
Conversion therapy focuses on using techniques like talk therapy, behavioral conditioning and, at times, physical interventions like electric shock therapy. The practice is often framed by supporters as a religious or moral practice.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ rights organization, says on its website that to date, 20 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico all have laws or regulations protecting youth from the practice.
