MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Republicans voted Friday to again allow therapists, social workers and counselors to try to change LGBTQ clients’ gender identity and sexual orientation – a discredited practice known as conversion therapy.
A ban on conversion therapy was enacted in 2020 by a state board under a Democratic governor’s administration that oversees licensing for mental health professionals. But a committee in the Republican-controlled Legislature temporarily blocked the ban and did it again Thursday, with all six Republicans voting to block it and four Democrats voting to keep it in place.
LGBTQ rights advocates have rejected the discredited scientific practice of trying to “convert” LGBTQ people into heterosexuality and traditional gender expectations as dangerous, citing research that shows the practice can increase the risk of suicide and depression.
At least 20 states and the District of Columbia ban conversion therapy for minors, according to the Movement Progress Project, a pro-LGBTQ rights think tank. Wisconsin is not one of them.
A review board at the Department of Public Safety and Standards developed a rule banning conversion therapy, drawing objections from Republican lawmakers who introduced a bill in January 2021 to eliminate it. Lawmakers put the bill in committee for the remainder of the 2021-22 session, avoiding a veto from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and delaying the ban.
Evers, who signed an executive order in 2021 banning the use of taxpayer money to fund youth conversion therapy, is expected to veto the bill if it passes.
The ban was reinstated after lawmakers failed to block it permanently at the end of the last legislative session. It has been back in effect since December 1, after Evers won reelection.
Mike Mikalsen, chief of staff of the committee of the state committee Sen. Steve Nass, reiterating the committee’s rationale for delaying the ban in 2021, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that the licensing board does not have the authority under state law to reinstate it. .
“This is not about the policy,” Mikalsen said.
Democrats disagree. Sen. State Kelda Roys, who sits on the legislative committee, said the Republicans’ decision to intervene was “wildly out of step” with the norm to set professional standards.
“It’s disappointing that the first step the GOP will take this legislative session is the practice of child abuse,” Roys said.
LGBTQ rights have taken center stage in states across the country since that year. Republican lawmakers in at least 11 states have introduced legislation to limit access to transgender health care. Conservatives have also pushed to limit conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.
State Rep. Adam Neylon, another committee chairman, began a public hearing before the vote by accusing the DSPS board of examiners of overstepping its bounds and creating public policy by banning conversion therapy. They say that is the only problem, not that conversion therapy is morally or ethically right or wrong.
Marc Herstand, executive director of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, told the committee that the board clearly has the authority to ban conversion therapy because it amounts to unprofessional conduct that could cause a patient to commit suicide.
“(Banning conversion therapy) is necessary to protect the mental health of children in our state,” Herstand said.
Roys told the committee that lawmakers should leave the whole issue alone because none of them are social workers or therapists.
“The Legislature is not competent to decide professional conduct in a regulated industry,” Roys said.
Julianne Appling, president of the conservative group Wisconsin Family Action, told the committee that banning conversion therapy violates counselors, social workers and therapists’ free speech rights. The state, he said, should not be allowed to threaten his career to exercise freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.
Matthew Lehner, a 19-year-old student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, told the committee that he is a member of the LGBTQ community and that he is disgusted that lawmakers are even thinking about allowing conversion therapy, calling it torture and a violation of human rights.
“I am outraged and sick to my stomach that a proposal like this will be considered in 2023,” Lehner said. “However, given that the majority of Republicans have opposed bodily autonomy, climate science, and queer people during the years of gerrymandered government, it should not be too surprising.”
Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report. Harm Venhuizen is a corps member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on hidden issues. Follow Venhuizen on Twitter.