Join the ACLU of Missouri’s Trans Justice Program, MIZZOU’s Queer Liberation Front, The Center Project, and the Youth Protection Ordinance Committee to celebrate Columbia, MO being the first Missouri city to step up to protect trans and queer youth from harmful Conversion Therapy! The event will be MC'd by Howard Hutton and Jay-Marie Hill, will include performances and remarks from local advocates who worked tirelessly on passing the state's first Conversion Therapy Restriction Ordinance.

Conversion Therapy has been scientifically proven to harm young people and the efforts to make Columbia the first city to wipe it out should not go unnoticed! This event is part of our statewide 10 Days of Trans Demands Campaign; Demand #6 is Stopping Conversion Therapy Statewide.

According to the UCLA Williams Institute think tank, “Conversion therapy is treatment intended to change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of LGBT people. It is grounded in the belief that being LGBT is abnormal.

‘Many professional health associations and the public support ending the use of conversion therapy on LGBT youth,’ said Christy Mallory, the state and local policy director at the Williams Institute and lead author of the study. ‘Our research shows that laws banning conversion therapy could protect tens of thousands of teens from what medical experts say is a harmful and ineffective practice.’

A number of prominent national professional health associations — including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, among others — have issued public statements opposing the use of conversion therapy and several have called on Congress and state legislatures to pass laws that ban the practice.”