File #: 5731    Version: 0 Name: ban conversion therapy - Chapter 55
Type: Ordinance Status: Passed
File created: 4/3/2023 In control: County Legislature
On agenda: 4/3/2023 Final action: 4/3/2023
Title: AN ORDINANCE enacting sections 667. and 5575., Jackson County Code, 1984, relating to a ban on conversion therapy for minors, with a penalty provision.
Sponsors: Jalen Anderson, Manuel Abarca IV
Attachments: 1. 5731 bu.pdf, 2. 5731adopted.pdf
Related files: 5711, 5728, 5726, 21227

IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI

Title
AN ORDINANCE enacting sections 667. and 5575., Jackson County Code, 1984, relating to a ban on conversion therapy for minors, with a penalty provision.

Intro
ORDINANCE NO. 5731, April 3, 2023

INTRODUCED BY Jalen Anderson and Manuel Abarca IV, County Legislators


Body
WHEREAS, conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, ex-gay therapy, or sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts, is a range of discredited practices aimed at changing one's sexual orientation or gender identity; and

WHEREAS, a national community of professionals in education, social work, health, mental health, and counseling, including the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), American Counseling Association, American School Health Association, and the National Association of Social Workers, have determined that there is no scientifically valid evidence that supports the practice of conversion therapy; and

WHEREAS, such professionals have determined that there is no evidence that conversion therapy is effective or that an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity can be changed by conversion therapy; and



WHEREAS, such professionals have also determined that conversion therapy is not only ineffective, but is substantially dangerous to an individual's mental and physical well?being and has also been shown to contribute to depression, self-harm, low self-esteem, family rejection, and suicide; and

WHEREAS, the AACAP finds no evidence to support the application of any "therapeutic intervention" operating under the premise that a specific sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression is pathological; and,

WHEREAS, based on scientific evidence, the AACAP asserts that such "conversion therapies" (or other interventions imposed with ...

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