AN ORDINANCE related to human rights; and adding a new Chapter 14.21 to the Seattle Municipal Code to prohibit the practice of conversion therapy on minors.
The motion carries and that resolution is adopted. Thank you, Councilmember Burgess. Thank you. Support of the Civil Rights, Utilities and Economic Development and Arts Committee. Please read the report. The report of the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee Agenda Item four of Accountable 118 746 Relating to Human Rights and adding a new Chapter 14.21 to the Shadow Minister Code to prohibit the practice of conversion therapy on minors. The committee recommends the bill passed as amended. I'll turn to Councilmember Herbold and follow your lead on how this is presented. Thank you. And I would like to allow Councilmember Gonzales to make remarks about this bill, since she is the prime sponsor and initiator of this effort. Councilmember Gonzalez, thank you. And before I get into the substance of the bill and move for its adoption, I have one small technical amendment that needs to be made to this to the version that passed out of committee last week. So I am going to move to amend the Council Bill 118746 Section one Seattle Municipal Code 14.2 1.050. B by deleting the word me and adding ciao before the director. Second. Is there saying it. Second OC has been moved and second to make the amendment as council members. Gonzales described all those in favor of the amendment vote i. I oppose. The ayes have it. So we now have an amended piece of legislation. Councilmember Gonzalez. Thank you. Imagine yourself as a child or a teenager growing up, coming to realize who you are as it relates to your sexual orientation or gender identity. Now imagine that a guardian sends you to a therapist who intends to cure you because they think you should identify as someone you are not. They tell you you're not normal, but you have a disease or mentally ill and that you need to change who you are. Sadly, occurrences like this are not rare, and this psychological manipulation is what is commonly referred to as conversion therapy and is a largely discredited practice that claims to use therapeutic tools to supposedly cure people of their same sex attractions or non-conforming conforming gender identity. Nationally, one in three LGBTQ youth may experience some form of conversion therapy upon coming out, and there is no reason to believe that Seattle is an outlier in this regard. Let me affirm a simple truth that I've been stating over the past week about this particular legislation, and that is that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgender is not an illness, nor is it something that needs a cure. Conversion therapy is a harmful practice that needs to end and cannot be allowed to grab a foothold in Seattle or anywhere else. Today, I'm thrilled to move for the adoption of Council Bill 118746 as amended, which would ban so-called conversion therapy for minors in Seattle by prohibiting licensed mental health providers from practicing conversion therapy on minor children . The legislation would prohibit licensed providers from practicing conversion therapy on children with a $500 fine for the first violation and up to $1,000 for any subsequent violations. Advertising for conversion therapy would also be prohibited, and our Seattle Office for Civil Rights would be responsible for enforcement of the law, but also for ensuring the community outreach that is necessary and appropriate to educate both potential victims of their rights, but also to advise licensed mental health professionals within the city of Seattle about their obligations under this new ordinance. Dozens of organizations have voiced opposition to the practice of conversion therapy, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Association of Child Adolescent Psychiatry. And the list goes on. If adopted by the full council today, Seattle will join Cincinnati and Miami Beach as the third city to ban gay conversion therapy. Washington, D.C., California, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont and New Jersey have already enacted statewide prohibitions. I believe that it's time that Seattle was added to this list. There's a few thank you's and acknowledgments I'd like to make. In conclusion, first, I want to thank Councilmember Herbold for allowing me the space on her agenda and in the credit committee to have this discussion and to advance this piece of legislation. Thank you so much. I'd also like to acknowledge and thank my legislative aide, Corey Dahl, who's sitting right here in the back in the audience, who was instrumental in crafting the policy and working through some of the more complex issues, both in enforcement and in the substance of policy. Thank you, Corey. And last but certainly not least, I want to give a huge amount of credit and thanks to our local LGBTQ advocates, some of whom are here today. They approached me several months ago to ask me to develop a bill to prohibit conversion therapy in Seattle. And I readily agreed to what I believe is a common sense approach to to dealing with this particular issue. It really is because of their advocacy that we now have this piece of legislation in front of us. And I am thrilled to be able to call this the first piece of legislation that I've been able to introduce and hopefully get passed. And truly, at its core, I believe this bill affirms equity, compassion and understanding of our LGBTQ youth. And it also affirms that discredited practices as it relates to the identity of our LGBTQ youth children will not be tolerated in in the city of Seattle. So with that being said, I'd like to move for its adoption. Thank you. Councilmember Gonzalez, Councilor Herbold, did you have any remarks you'd like to make? Thank you. I just wanted to, first of all, say that this is an important statement on behalf of the city. Should the city choose or the council choose to pass it today, that any practice that requires somebody. To. Repudiate their very identity cannot be called therapy. And I'm very proud that our city is joining those who have decided to ban it. And I hope that this is something that we can with our Office of Intergovernmental Relations. Work to get passed by the state legislature as well. I did want to also lift up the fact that we had asked OCR Office of Civil Rights in committee last week to identify the costs associated with this bill. And they've they've provided some additional information about that cost associated with building community based partnerships. Bus ads, print ads and mailers and translation services, primarily for. The purposes of. Promoting the fact that this is now the law of Seattle. So I am happy to provide that detail if anybody wants it. But that was a sort of a t that t that we decided that we in an eye that we decided we needed to dot and cross. Thank you very much for those words. Councilmember Suarez, I believe you have some words. I do. Thank you. First of all, I want to thank Sarah Mays for her words about talking about queer children. Conversion therapy is the 20th century or 21st century version of what happened to my people, all in the name of assimilation to not be us. Except we had the government that took our children boarding school beatings, not allowed to speak our language, practice, our religion and our culture. We were forcibly taken from our families, our children. I am literally one generation removed from that horrific practice. So today I join you and I'm happy for you and your children. And what I hear. It breaks my heart. That we have to pass a law to recognize your humanity. So today, God bless you. Thank you. Cuts. That's true. Any other comments from any of my colleagues before we call for the vote? I learned one thing in this job most equipped way or had those wise words from all three of you. Thank you very much. Please call the role on the passage of the amended bill. Swan I beg your pardon? Burgess Gonzalez I heard Bob Johnson whereas I. O'Brien High President. Harrell High. Nine in favor and unopposed. The bill passed and chair was signed and let's give that an applause. He offered to take credit for it. By the way, thank you very much for your leadership, colleagues. All right, all right. All right. It's a. Community effort. All right. A report of the civil rights, utilities and economic development and. Item five I was just testing you your read on. Please read the next report, please.