Conversion therapy officially banned in Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WDTV) - The practice of youth conversion therapy is banned from the city of Morgantown Tuesday.

The controversial practice to try and convert people in the LGBT+ community was voted on by the city council. The Morgantown council voted seven to zero banning the practice of conversion therapy for minors.

Council approved the ordinance that will prohibit the practice of conversion therapy by any medical or mental health professional in city limits.

“...and I did not receive a single negative response, I only received correspondence stating that people were in favor of this.” said deputy mayor Danielle Trumble.

The chair of the human rights commission presented the idea of the ordinance back in August.

The proposal was active over the past few months with advocates speaking in support of the ban.

That support carried over into the council’s unanimous vote.

“...and that’s really where we were able to look at those leaders from fairness [West Virginia] and own human rights commission and other groups that came to us and asked the questions and connect and get all of the information there,” said Trumble.

Trumble says the ordinance applies to licensed medical professionals.

“What we are really looking at are people who are doing this under the guise of their profession when it’s been discredited by their governing bodies.”

According to fairness West Virginia, those who have been subjected to conversion therapy are more likely to commit suicide than those who have not.

“Pretty much every major medical association like the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Mental Health America have all discredited as being not valid, not useful...it does more harm than good,” said Trumble.

Morgantown is the second city in the state to approve a ban on conversion therapy with Charleston being the first within the mountain state.

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