MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously Friday to ban the practice of "conversion therapy."
Minneapolis will not allow the treatment, which seeks to "cure" members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.
“In Minneapolis, we aren’t afraid to take on challenges when they’ve stalled elsewhere,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in a news release Friday. “I wholeheartedly support the excellent leadership of Council Vice President Jenkins and Councilman Cunningham on behalf of our LGBTQ community, and this ordinance represents another strong step.”
City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins co-authored the ordinance, which she calls the "conversion abuse ban."
"It has really been a very heartwarming community effort to protect our most vulnerable residents in the City of Minneapolis," she said.
She said she hopes the step by Minneapolis will help other cities take up the ban, eventually leading to a statewide ban.
According to the city's news release, the ban is aimed at protecting young people from the harmful effects of conversion therapy such as suicide, depression and substance abuse.
November is Transgender Awareness Month, and Jenkins took a moment at the city council meeting to recognize that 22 members of the transgender community have been murdered in the U.S. in 2019, and 21 of them were black transgender women.
"Hopefully we can end this violence, and I think our step towards banning conversion therapy in the city of Minneapolis is a step in that direction," she said.
According to the council, similar bans exist in 18 states and about 53 cities, with many more pending.
