KANSAS CITY – The legislature for Jackson County – the most populous county in the Kansas City metro area – voted to ban so-called “conversion therapy” for minors, April 3.
The nine-member legislature’s unanimous decision makes Jackson County the first county in Missouri to ban “conversion therapy,” according to Fox News.
Ordinance #5731 defines “conversion therapy” broadly, as follows:
“Conversion Therapy or Reparative Therapy,” the ordinance reads, “means any practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender or any therapeutic intervention imposed with the intent of promoting a particular sexual orientation and/or gender as a preferred outcome.”
The Jackson County ordinance explicitly addresses the practice of “licensed medical or mental health professional(s).” Although the measure states that the counsel of parents and grandparents isn’t included in the ban on “conversion therapy,” it makes no mention of the ordinance’s implications for ministers and biblical counselors who discourage unbiblical views of gender and sexuality.
Other “conversion therapy” bans enacted across the nation have been criticized by Christian leaders for sweeping and ambiguous language that evidently bars ministers and biblical counselors from teaching scriptural truth about gender and sexuality.
In a March 16th statement, the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) Christian Life Commission (CLC) raised concerns about the county’s efforts to ban “conversion therapy.”
The legislation infringes religious liberty protections of licensed professionals and those seeking their help, CLC members stated. “Such an infringement – with a threat of punishment for communicating about certain ideas – is both unconstitutional and immoral. Central to the Christian faith is the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of God to produce life change in all who trust and obey Christ. Christians call this ‘conversion.’”
Also, the bill in fact infringes “on parental rights by effectively limiting legal guardians’ medical and counseling options for their minor children,” the CLC said.
The ordinance also “enshrines into law a narrow view of human sexuality” and “marginalizes” those who have benefitted from “conversion therapy.”
Additionally, it puts “school counselors and staff in jeopardy of punishment for encouraging a student’s desire to seek, along with his parents, to align his sexual feelings or conduct with his moral or spiritual convictions,” CLC members said.
As previously reported in The Pathway, Kansas City attorney Michael Whitehead says the ban also threatens the right to free speech of licensed doctors and counselors who don’t affirm the county government’s views on the LGBTQ+ lifestyle.
The ordinance, he said, “prohibits speech which supports change, while it expressly permits counseling which ‘does not seek to change sexual orientation or gender identity.’ The Court has generally held that this kind of speech content regulation cannot pass ‘strict scrutiny’ and is unconstitutional.”