41-18 Ban Conversion Therapy - Laserfiche WebLink

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Placed on first reading and referred to Health & Human Services Committee 9/17/18, second reading 10/1/18. Please substitute for the original. ORDINANCE NO. 41 -18 BY: Anderson, Bullock, George, Litten, O'Leary, O'Malley, Rader AN ORDINANCE amending Chapter 516, Discrimination Prohibited, of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Lakewood to prohibit any psychiatric treatment, including conversion therapy, which purpose is an attempt to change an individual's sexual orientation. WHEREAS, the American Psychiatric Association in December 1998 published a posi- tion statement opposing any psychiatric treatment, including reparative or conversion therapy, which therapy regime is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disor- der or upon an assumption that a patient should change his or her homosexual orientation; and WHEREAS, the American Psychological Associations Task Force on Appropriate Ther- apeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation ( "APA Task Force ") concluded that sexual orientation change efforts can pose critical health risks to lesbian, gay and bisexual people, including, among other things, confusion, depression, social withdrawal, suicidality, substance abuse, self - hatred, high -risk sexual behaviors, and a feeling of being dehumanized; and WHEREAS, following the report issued by the APA Task Force, the American Psycho- logical Association issued a resolution in 2009 on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts, advising parents, guardians, young people and their families to avoid sexual orientation change efforts that portray homosexuality as a mental illness or developmental disorder, and encouraging psychotherapy, social support, and education ser- vices that provide accurate information on sexual orientation and sexuality, increase family and school support and reduce rejection or sexual minority youth; and WHEREAS, the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry in 2012 published a statement in its journal that "[g]iven that there is no evidence that efforts to alter sexual orienta- tion are effective, beneficial or necessary and the possibility that they carry the risk of significant harm, such interventions are contraindicated'; and WHEREAS, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Counseling Association Governing Council, and Psychoanalytic Association each have asserted in reports or position statements that sexual orientation change efforts, including reparative ther- apy or conversion therapy are not recommended and may be harmful; and WHEREAS, the Pan American Health Organization issued a statement in 2012 that "[t]hese supposed conversion therapies constitute a violation of the principles of health care and violate human rights that are protected by international and regional agreements "; and