(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
After a committee meeting at city hall Monday, Green Bay's Common Council will decide whether to make a statement opposing conversion therapy in the city. I'm your Green Bay area neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos and I spoke with some alderpeople who say time is of the essence and another who thinks the city should hold off.
Get an inside look at Monday's meeting below:
Last year, we told you how former Green Bay alderperson Randy Scannell pushed for the city to ban conversion therapy in Green Bay.
The American Psychological Association defines conversion therapy as "Efforts to discourage or change behaviors related to [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other] Identities and expressions."
The association says "These efforts assume that being LGBTQ+ is an illness that must be cured, and any behaviors that indicate or reflect LGBTQ+ identities must be avoided."
"We're still one of the few municipalities in Wisconsin that has not put a stop to conversion therapy," District 6 alder Joey Prestley said to the protection and policy committee Monday.
Green Bay has put any legal ban on conversion therapy on hold because of ongoing litigation between the city of La Crosse and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty over that city's law banning conversion therapy.
"That litigation may continue for decades," District 7 alder Alyssa Proffitt said.
That's why she along with alderpeople Joey Prestley and Ben Delie are asking the city to make a resolution, which is basically just a policy statement, opposing the practice in the city.
A resolution is not a law, so it would not be enforceable.
At the protection and policy committee meeting Monday, alders Bill Morgan and Craig Stevens voted against recommending the resolution, while alders Alyssa Proffitt and Jim Hutchinson were for it.
"My fear is that if we voted yes or no, we could possibly put the city and the taxpayers into a position of litigation or lawsuits," District 3 alder Morgan said.
"As a queer person myself, I don't like my fate being put up to chance. I don't like that we can't take a clear position on this right now," Alder Prestley said.
Alder Proffitt cited the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's stance on conversion therapy. The academy says "'Conversion therapies' should not be part of any behavioral health treatment of children and adolescents ... There is evidence that such interventions are harmful."
"I am hopeful that when we bring it to the full body of 12 [at the Common Council meeting] they will understand the science behind it and as a community, this really should be a no-brainer to be able to say 'We don't support this,'" Alder Proffitt said.
"When we brought this up over a year ago, there was fear that children were at risk and stuff like that and my stance was that there were enough laws on the books that were going to cover protecting children, and I think that some people may want to be able to have something like this done," Alder Morgan said.
The Common Council will make a decision at their meeting next Tuesday.
