Lake Worth is the latest Florida city
to enact legislation that prohibits therapies that attempt to alter
the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) youth.
The Lake Worth City Commission
unanimously approved the measure on December 13, the Sun
Sentinel reported.
The Palm Beach County Human Rights
Council (PBCHRC) asked the city to consider the action. The National
Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC) also supported the ordinance.
Such therapies go by names such as
“conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy” or “ex-gay
therapy.”
“Conversion therapy is an extremely
dangerous and fraudulent practice that claims to change an
individual's sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Scott
McCoy, senior policy counsel for the SPLC, in a statement. “This
bogus practice is premised on the lie that LGBTQ individuals have a
'condition' that needs to be cured.”
Lake Worth is the seventh Florida city
to enact such a ban. West Palm Beach, Miami, Wilton Manors, Miami
Beach, Bay Harbor Islands and North Bay Village approved similar
ordinances after efforts at the state level fizzled.