Policy

Wisconsin Legislature allows conversion therapy for patients

Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature have used a procedural move to freeze any future attempts through 2024 to enact a state ban on a controversial practice known as conversion therapy.

March 22, 2023

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Chris Kapenga stands before a podium with a microphone and gestures with both hands, with two brass light fixtures on either side of him, and with a Wisconsin flag and marble masonry in the background.

Wisconsin Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, presides over a session of the chamber on March 22, 2023. Republicans in control of the state senate voted to effectively allow therapists and others to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. (Credit: Courtesy of WisconsinEye)


MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Legislature took the final step needed on March 22 to stop Gov. Tony Evers’ administration from enacting a ban on the discredited practice known as conversion therapy.

Republicans who control the state Senate voted over the objections of Democrats to effectively allow therapists and others to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Republicans used a procedural move to freeze any future attempts through 2024 to ban conversion therapy. The Senate vote came after the Assembly took the same step on March 14.

Republicans have stopped a ban on conversion therapy since it was first attempted to be enacted by the board that licenses mental health professionals in 2020.

Conversion therapy for minors has been banned in more than a dozen Wisconsin cities. And at least 20 states and the District of Columbia have outlawed conversion therapy for minors, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a pro-LGBTQ rights think tank.

LGBTQ rights advocates have decried the scientifically discredited practice of trying to “convert” LGBTQ people to heterosexuality and traditional gender expectations as harmful, citing research suggesting the practice can increase the risk of suicide and depression.

Senate Democrats argued that the discredited practice should be banned. No Republican lawmaker spoke in favor of allowing conversion therapy before they all voted for it.


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