South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, sent a letter to the city of Columbia requesting that it overturn its municipal ban on conversion therapy. Wilson said the ban violates a state religious freedom law and is unconstitutional because it violates the religious rights of faith-based counselors.
“This letter just says, ‘Hey, look, the ban is unconstitutional and it’s also unlawful under current state law.’ Just comport with it. Comply with it. We’re good,” Wilson told WIS TV.
Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann questioned the need for the letter.
“I have a whole lot of other priorities.” Rickenmann told reporters on Wednesday, The State reports.
Rickenmann also questioned the letter's timing, asking, “Why now?” and suggesting a political connection. Wilson is rumored to be considering a run for governor in the state.
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The state’s Senate also applied pressure, threatening to withhold $15 million in state funding if the city did not overturn the ordinance.
Conversion therapy is the so-called reparative ex-queer therapy based on the belief that a person can be ‘cured’ of their same-sex sexual attraction and that conversion from homosexuality to heterosexuality is possible. Various means of implementing this therapy can include prayer groups, electroshock therapy, and training in gender behavior. Health experts agree that the practice is harmful.
Columbia narrowly approved the ban on conversion therapy within its city limits in 2021. The following year, the state passed the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, which sought to protect the rights of medical practitioners.
In the letter, Wilson derides what he calls a mischaracterization of conversion therapy that “conjures images of draconian and harmful treatments, like electroshock therapy or other physical cruelties, aimed at changing the sexuality of individuals who were unsure about their sexual orientation.”
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He goes on to say that faith-based counselors are forced to “come into compliance with ‘gender affirming care,’ which he incorrectly says is fake science.
“This ordinance crosses the line, violates the law, and must be repealed,” Wilson said in a statement.
All major medical associations in the U.S. support gender-affirming care.
Wilson said he sent the letter now because he recently signed a brief supporting a similar overturning of conversion therapy bans in Michigan.
Dylan Gunnels, the president of South Carolina Pride and the founder of The Agape Table, a local LGBTQ+ advocacy and support group, is a survivor of conversion therapy. He described Wilson’s claimed motivation for sending the letter as “hogwash” and instead said he was falling in line with the Trump administration’s assault on LGBTQ+ rights and DEI.
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“What has changed is that they’re emboldened by an administration that’s obsessed with DEI and erasing the existence of LGBTQ people,” Gunnels told
WIS TV. "And again, having no clue or understanding what conversion therapy actually is, and clearly not even the tenants of what that ordinance was. So you’re using your power and control in a moment when you’re vying for the governor’s seat to attack LGBTQ people yet again.”
