Just two weeks into a fresh legislative session, Wisconsin Republicans sitting on the Joint Committee for Review and Administrative Rules voted to strike down a rule banning the use of conversion therapy by licensed medical professionals in the state for the second time.
The regulation in question, titled MPSW, is an administrative code by the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board that classifies discrimination on the basis of “age, race, color, sex, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, disability or sexual orientation by means of service provided or denied” as unprofessional conduct.
The 25th rule under this code, which was recently suspended, prohibits “employing or promoting any intervention or method that has the purpose of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including attempting to change behaviors or expressions of self or to reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.”
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Conversion therapy has been widely recognized as a cruel and dangerous practice by a number of prominent mental health entities throughout the United States, and 20 states and the District of Columbia have debarred it entirely. The existing scientific literature regarding conversion therapy has demonstrated that it is not possible to change a patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity and that any attempts at doing so yield negative mental health outcomes. Patients can often suffer from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation as a result.
Recognizing the harmful nature of conversion therapy is important, and it is critical to consider how the practice may be leveraged against queer youth. Conversion therapy often directly targets LGBTQIA+ adolescents who lack the personal jurisdiction to provide medical consent on their own behalf, ultimately subjecting minors to scientifically-decried harm in the event that their parents opt to enroll them in conversion therapy.
By suspending MPSW Rule 25, the GOP has waged a direct attack on LGBTQIA+ folks. Currently, only fourteen cities in Wisconsin have explicitly banned conversion therapy for minors — this leaves 76% of the state population without local protections.
State Republicans argue that the committee’s decision to suspend this rule is not a proclamation of support for conversion therapy but rather a means of addressing what has been credited as regulatory and legislative oversight by the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board.
This stance, however, is difficult to believe given Wisconsin conservatives’ rampant anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric. In the past year alone, the state has witnessed a laundry list that reeks of hatred — a GOP-proposed bill in which parents would be granted the legal right to determine the name and pronouns their child is permitted to use in school, bomb threats in Kiel following a school board’s decision to protect transgender students, attempts at banning transgender athletes from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity, the formal implementation of transphobic policy throughout Catholic schools and churches in Milwaukee, strides toward banning LGBTQIA+ books from school libraries and a Republican-backed venture to restrict gender-affirming care for youth.
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The GOP’s legislative open season on the queer community gestures to this recent rule suspension as yet another assault on the rights and well-being of LGBTQIA+ folks. While this move is not shocking, it is an inappropriate overstep that directly treads against scientific evidence and human rights. What we’re witnessing is state-sanctioned child abuse that furthers the undue pathologization of LGBTQIA+ identities. Regardless of the intentions of the six Republicans who overturned this ban, conversion therapy has been legalized.
The examining board that initially banned conversion therapy currently comprises eleven licensed mental health professionals, and it is well within their basis of expertise and purview to craft informed operational and regulatory decisions regarding appropriate medical practices in the state. The lawmakers overturning this ban on conversion therapy are not mental health professionals, thus rendering them unfit to determine or modify rules of conduct in a regulated medical field.
Enabling a practice that has been widely condemned for its unethical nature is archaic and oppressive, and Republican lawmakers are actively placing LGBTQIA+ individuals in harm’s way. Research has evidenced that facing rejection and ridicule for one’s sexuality or gender identity only serves to exacerbate negative health outcomes, and LGBTQIA+ folks are already disproportionately predisposed to experiencing health inequities.
Embracing the queer community and continuing to fight for justice is critical, and we must continue to advocate for equity. We need legislation that protects and honors the lived experiences and identities of all Wisconsinites and petitioning to do away with conversion therapy is just a single stride in the right direction.
Katie Sullivan ([email protected]) is a sophomore studying health promotion, health equality, and linguistics.
