City Council

The City of Morgantown 389 Spruce Street Morgantown, West Virginia 26505 (304) 284-7439 Fax: (304) 284-7525 www.morgantownwv.gov Office of the City Clerk AGENDA MORGANTOWN CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Tuesday, September 28, 2021 7:00 p.m. NOTE: Committee of the Whole Meetings of the Morgantown City Council are intended to provide an opportunity for the Council to receive information, ask questions, and identify policy options in an informal setting. No official action is taken at these meetings. At this Committee of the Whole Meeting the following matters are scheduled. PRESENTATIONS: 1. Morgantown Utility Board Presentation – Mike McNulty General Manager 2. Conversion Therapy – Andrew Schneider Fairness, WV PUBLIC PORTION: ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION: 1. Ordinance amending article 153 governing the Human Rights Commission to prohibit Conversion Therapy 2. COVID mitigation measures for public meetings ADJOURNMENT: For accommodations, please reach out to us at 304-288-7072.  CONVERSION THERAPY 101 Prohibiting Conversion Therapy Ordinance Conversion therapy refers to any of several dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Example: Attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation from lesbian, gay, or bisexual to straight or their gender identity from transgender or nonbinary to cisgender. Conversion therapy can come in many forms and is sometimes known by other names, including: “gender critical therapy”; “reparative therapy”; “ex-gay ministries”; “sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts” WHO PERFORMS CT? WHAT DO EXPERTS THINK? Conversion therapy can be performed by: licensed professionals (therapists, councilors, There is no accredited training for mental health psychiatrists); unlicensed ministries, or life professionals on how to attempt to change a coaches; educators person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. That also means there is no ethical standard of While some conversion therapists continue to care for doing so all of the Nation’s leading use physical methods, the most common Professional Medical and Mental Health technique today include “talk therapies” that Associations have rejected conversion therapy licensed or unlicensed practitioners use in and deemed it as unnecessary, ineffective, and attempt to “treat” a person’s sexual orientation or dangerous. gender identity. DOES CT WORK? IS IT HARMFUL? No. Conversion therapy is based on outdated Yes. The risks of conversion therapy extend far information that being LGBTQ+ is a mental beyond its ineffectiveness. Conversion therapy is illness, despite all major medical associations’ strongly associated with negative mental health agreement that LGBTQ identities are a normal outcomes and greater rates of attempting suicide. variant of human nature. According to The Trevor Project’s 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 10% of The American Psychiatric Association has not LGBTQ youth reported undergoing conversion treated homosexuality as a mental illness therapy, with 78% reporting it occurred when they since 1973, and being transgender is no longer were under age 18. Youth who reported undergoing treated as a mental illness since “gender conversion therapy reported more than twice the identity disorder” was removed from rate of attempting suicide in the past year psychological diagnostic manuals in 2013. compared to those who did not. STATISTICS 698,000 LGBTQ adults A 2018 study by The Family Acceptance Project found that: (ages 18-59) in the U.S. Rates of attempted suicide by LGBT young people whose parents have received conversion tried to change their sexual orientation were more than double (48%) therapy, including about the rate of LGBT young adults who reported no conversion 350,000 LGBTQ adults experiences (22%). who received treatment Suicide attempts nearly tripled for LGBT young people who reported as adolescents. both home-based and out-of-home efforts to change their sexual orientation (63%). 20,000 LGBTQ youth High levels of depression more than doubled (33%) for LGBT young (ages 13-17) will receive people whose parents tried to change their sexual orientation conversion therapy from a compared with those who reported no conversion experiences (16%) licensed healthcare and more than tripled (52%) for LGBT young people who reported professional before they both home-based and out-of-home efforts to change their sexual reach the age of 18 in the orientation. 41 states that currently do Sexual orientation change experiences during adolescence by both not ban the practice. parents/caregivers and externally by therapists and religious leaders were associated with lower young adult socioeconomic status, less educational attainment, and lower weekly income. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Pass this ordinance to prohibit conversion therapy within the City of Morgantown. Passing this ordinance will show that we as a community care for our LGBTQ+ youth, and want to protect them to the best of our abilities. Our LGBTQ+ youth deserve to thrive in a healthy environment, where they are not subjected to misinformation and hatred, or being told they are "damaged" and need "cured". By passing this ordinance, we are promoting equality, safety, and inclusiveness within our city. We can continue to serve as a beacon of hope to the rest of the state, encouraging other municipalities to pass similar ordinances, with the hope we will soon have a statewide law.  Ordinance No. 2021-___ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE 153 GOVERNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO PROHIBIT CONVERSION THERAPY WHEREAS, West Virginia Code 8-12-2(a)(9) provides that the City of Morgantown has plenary power and authority to adopt an ordinance not inconsistent or in conflict with the West Virginia Constitution, state code, or city charter, that provides for the government, protection, order, conduct, safety and health of persons or property; and WHEREAS, West Virginia Code 8-12-5(23) and (44) provides that the City of Morgantown’s City Council has the plenary power and authority to adopt an ordinance that provides for the elimination of hazards to public health and safety and to abate or cause to be abated anything which is declared a public nuisance and to protect and promote the public safety, health, welfare and good order; and WHEREAS, contemporary science recognizes that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is part of the natural spectrum of human identity and is not a disease, disorder, or illness; and WHEREAS, conversion therapy has been rejected by every major medical and mental health organization, including the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Counseling Association, American Psychoanalytic Association, American School Counselor Association, American School Health Association, National Association of Social Workers, and the Pan American Health Organization; and WHEREAS, conversion therapy leads to critical health risks including anxiety, depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, homelessness, and suicide; and WHEREAS, minors are especially vulnerable to the harms associated with conversion therapy; and WHEREAS, the City has a compelling interest in protecting the physical and psychological well- being of minors, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, and in protecting its minors against exposure to serious harms caused by conversion therapy; and WHEREAS, in consideration of the foregoing, the City Council finds and concludes that the practice of conversion therapy impermissibility discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity; NOW, THEREFORE, the City of Morgantown hereby ordains that Section 153.02 of the City Code is amended as follows: {01626979.DOCX } Discriminate or discrimination means to exclude from, or fail or refuse to extend to, a person equal opportunities because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, blindness, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, familial status or veteran status and includes to separate or segregate. For the purposes of this article, discrimination based on race includes, but is not limited to, discrimination based on hair textures and protective hairstyles historically associated with a particular race. Furthermore, for the purposes of this article, discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity includes the practice of conversion therapy with a minor under the age of eighteen years old by any medical or mental health professional. Conversion therapy means any practices or treatments that seek 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. Conversion therapy shall not include counseling that provides assistance to a person undergoing gender transition, or counseling that provides acceptance, support, and understanding of a person or facilitates a person’s coping, social support, and identity exploration and development, including sexual-orientation-neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, as long as such counseling does not seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Medical or mental health professional means any individual who is licensed by the City or State to engage in a profession related to physical or mental health, including any interns, trainees, or apprentices who provide medical or mental health services under the supervision of a licensed medical or mental health professional. This ordinance is effective upon adoption. __________________________________ ______________________________ FIRST READING Mayor __________________________________ ______________________________ SECOND READING City Clerk __________________________________ ADOPTED __________________________________ FILED {01626979.DOCX }