Two Johnson County cities have amended their conversion therapy bans to be more “viewpoint-neutral” following a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that found a similar statewide ban in Colorado unconstitutional.
The votes this week by the city councils in Roeland Park and Prairie Village came roughly two months after Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sent letters to the cities demanding they each repeal their conversion therapy bans that have been on the books for years.
In his letters sent in July, Kobach cited Chiles v. Salazar, in which the U.S. Supreme Court found Colorado’s conversion therapy ban violated the First Amendment because it regulated speech based on viewpoint and content.
Conversion therapy is the practice of counseling a person to change their sexual orientation, stemming from the belief that being LGBTQ is a mental illness that can be cured. The American Psychological Association has long said the practice is ineffective and can, in fact, be harmful, increasing rates of depression and suicide attempts among LGBTQ youth.
Though there are no known licensed conversion therapy practitioners in either city, both Roeland Park and Prairie Village, along with Lawrence, passed bans on the practice years ago. (A 2023 report from LGBTQ advocacy group The Trevor Project documented more than 1,300 active conversion therapy practitioners nationwide.)
Instead of outright repealing their bans on Monday, however, both cities amended their nearly identical rules to follow “a viewpoint-neutral framework” similar to revised legislation passed by Colorado after the high court’s ruling.
Kobach’s office did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment following the cities’ votes this week.
How both cities’ bans are now different
On Monday, the Roeland Park City Council approved an amended conversion therapy ordinance through its consent agenda in a 8-0 vote. Councilmember Tom Madigan was absent.
That same night, the Prairie Village City Council voted 8-3 to approve nearly identical amendments to its conversion therapy ban.
Councilmembers Terry O’Toole, Nick Reddell and Andy Logan cast the opposing votes. Councilmember Inga Selders was absent.
Both amended ordinances continue to ban any counseling that “seeks to direct a patient toward a predetermined sexual orientation or gender identity outcome … regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity the patient is directed toward.”
Under these cities’ bans, counseling that is neutral regarding sexual orientation or gender identity or that “does not seek to direct the patient toward a predetermined” outcome is not barred.
For violators of the conversion therapy bans in Prairie Village and Roeland Park, anyone found to be in violation could be fined up to $1,000. Violators also face the threat of losing their business license to operate within the city, according to both the cities’ bans.
Prairie Village City Attorney Alex Aggen told the city council on Monday that the ordinance is viewpoint-neutral but there is “effectively no certainty anything” the city passes will “ever not be challenged.”
Both ordinances still note that various medical groups, including the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association, have determined that counseling aimed at trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or identity is “harmful and ineffective.”
Aggen told the city council on Sept. 8 during a committee meeting that he does believe the amended language is in compliance with the Chiles v. Salazar decision.
Full copies of each ban can be found in the embedded document below.
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Open in new tab Kansas AG demanded repeal
Kobach sent two identical letters to the mayors of Prairie Village and Roeland Park on July 23. A third letter was sent to Lawrence’s mayor.
Kobach gave each city 60 days to alert his office of whether their city had repealed its conversion therapy ban to “bring the City back into compliance with the constitution.”
In the letters, Kobach pointed to the Chiles v. Salazar ruling that “held the law violated the First Amendment because it proscribed what views a therapist may and may not express.”
Kobach’s letter stated that the conversion therapy bans in each of the cities “seeks to control speech in a nearly identical way” and are inapplicable to counseling for people who are transitioning genders.
“In other words, only one viewpoint is allowed to be expressed,” Kobach said in the letters to each of the cities. “Thus, the ordinance engages in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”
Monday, when Prairie Village and Roeland Park adopted the newly amended ordinances, was exactly 60 days after the cities received Kobach’s July 23 letter.
The cities adopted the bans 5+ years ago
In 2020, Roeland Park became the first city in Kansas to pass a conversion therapy ban.
At that time, the ban was intended to protect minors from “the serious harms and risks caused by” conversion therapy, according to city documents at that time.
When Roeland Park discussed the conversion therapy ban, several LGBTQ rights advocates spoke in favor of the ban. Some of those advocates shared their experience undergoing conversion therapy as minors.
The city of Roeland Park’s amended ban, approved on Monday, includes a clause that highlights how the city heard this testimony from current and former residents.
More than a year after Roeland Park adopted its conversion therapy ban, Prairie Village started its own ordinance.
At that time, Prairie Village leaders debated whether it was “virtue signaling” as there were no known licensed practitioners in Prairie Village (nor in Roeland Park) who offered conversion or reparative therapy services.
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