LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ bans become conservative target. Are Linn County and Davenport next?

Linn County and city of Davenport officials say they have no plans to repeal or amend bans on “conversion therapy” — the discredited attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity — in the face of potential threatened litigation.

The Waterloo City Council early last week repealed that city's ban under threat of a lawsuit by a group advancing religious freedom. That leaves only two bans in place in Iowa — Linn County, which applies to rural areas in the county, and Davenport.

The Waterloo City Council voted Aug. 21 to remove its restrictions after Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian ministry and law firm, warned in a letter June 30 that it would “take further action” if the city did not repeal the ordinance, which was enacted in May.

The group argued the ordinance infringes on the constitutional rights of counselors and patients under the First Amendment to choose the counsel of their choice, free of political censorship. It said it was acting on behalf of a therapist in Waterloo who was concerned about “the impact of the ordinance on the counseling practice and clients,” said Mat Staver, founder and chair of Liberty Counsel.

Neither Linn County nor Davenport have received letters or emails from Liberty Counsel regarding their conversion therapy ordinances.

“There has not been any discussion about repealing, amending or reviewing Linn County’s ordinance,” county Communications Director Joi Alexander said in an email to The Gazette. “At this time, there are no plans for it to become a discussion item at a Board of Supervisors meeting.”

Staver said Liberty Counsel is in process of reviewing both ordinances. “We may be in the process of doing something,” he said. “I can’t say definitively that we are, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Such therapy — also called reparative therapy — has been discredited and is opposed by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, citing research that shows the practice leads to increased risk of suicide and depression.

“So-called ‘conversion therapy’ refers to any form of interventions which attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation, sexual behaviors or gender identity. Underlying these ‘therapies’ is the assumption that homosexuality and gender nonconformity are mental disorders and that sexual orientation and gender identity can be changed,” according to the AMA. “This assumption is not based on medical or scientific evidence. Professional consensus rejects pathologizing homosexuality and gender nonconformity and evidence does not support the efficacy of changing sexual orientation.”

Staver contends peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the harms of conversion therapy with gender minority youth is lacking — and that no ethical standards exist preventing the type of counseling, absent condemnations from medical organizations.

A September 2019 study of 27,000 transgender individuals published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that those who were exposed to gender identity conversion efforts before age 10 were four times more likely to report a suicide attempt in their lifetime versus trans people who were never subjected to such efforts.

According to the UCLA Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, as of 2019, almost 700,000 LGBTQ adults in the United States had received “conversion therapy,” and an estimated 57,000 youths will receive change efforts from religious or health care clinicians before they turn 18 years old.

Advocates worry of deteriorating rights

Laws prohibiting mental health professionals from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity have been passed in 22 states and Washington, D.C., according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. In 13 states, some municipalities have adopted their own provisions.

Davenport passed an ordinance in 2020 barring licensed medical or mental health professionals in that city from providing or advertising conversion therapies to minors.

The Linn County supervisors passed a similar ban in June 2022. The measure does not apply to cities in the county. It prohibits “any efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity with minors, including conversion and reparative therapy.” Officials said they are unaware of anyone practicing the therapy in unincorporated Linn County.

Iowa Safe Schools, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, said the issue of conversion therapy was brought to its attention by students, including LGBTQ groups in the Linn-Mar school district in Marion.

In Waterloo, City Council member Jonathan Grieder proposed the ban after he said he had heard concerns about conversion therapy happening in the area, and worked with Iowa Safe Schools to draft an ordinance after watching statewide efforts fail.

Republican Rep. Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton joined Democrats in 2020 to introduce a bill that would have banned health care providers from administering conversion therapy to minors. It provided an exemption for religious groups, parents and grandparents. But some Christian conservatives said it still would discriminates against particular viewpoints about sexual orientation. The bill failed to make it out of subcommittee.

Meanwhile, Iowa lawmakers have passed and Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed bills into law to prohibit teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through grade six, to restrict the restrooms transgender students can use and to ban gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.

Damian Thompson, public policy director at Iowa Safe Schools, condemned conservative politicians, both in Iowa and at the national level, who he said have turned LGTBQ rights into a “political hot-button issue” that jeopardizes the safety of transgender and gender-fluid youth in schools and communities.

“In every municipality we have worked with to pass ordinances, we have credible allegations of (conversion therapy being practiced) or victims of conversion therapy that come forward,” Thompson said.

Despite the legal threat by Liberty Counsel, Thompson argues the bans have been extensively vetted by city and county attorneys, as well as those retained by Iowa Safe Schools, to align with state or federal law and Iowa home rule. The latter allows local governments authority over local matters unless specifically prohibited by state law.

Courts strike down bans in Florida

Staver contends local governments are preempted from regulating counseling practices by the state, which oversees the licensing and discipline of mental health professionals.

“Doctors and counselors are regulated uniformly across the state. These are unenforceable laws,” Staver said. He pointed to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invoked free speech protections to block a California law that required anti-abortion centers to provide information about abortion to patients.

In 2020, a panel of three federal judges in Florida relied in part on that 2018 ruling and became the first federal appeals court to block ordinances in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County that banned conversion therapy. Liberty Counsel represents the two therapists who won that case.

And the city of Tampa in April said it planned to pay Liberty Counsel $950,000 to settle a lawsuit over its failed attempt to ban conversion therapy on minors.

A federal appeals court in February affirmed a 2019 lower court ruling that struck down Tampa's ordinance. The U.S. District Court ruled the ban interferes with the First Amendment rights of the counselors and patients, and was invalid because only the state legislature has the authority to regulate mental health professionals.

Linn County Supervisor Louis Zumbach, a Republican, voted against the ban last year. Zumbach said he continues to believe the issue is one best left to the Iowa Legislature.

Despite that, Zumbach said he does not intend to call to a repeal “unless there’s litigation,” anticipating the political makeup of the board will only lead to the same outcome — a 2-1 vote — that led to the ban’s passage.

The Associated Press and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier contributed to this report

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com