An Epic Showdown Over ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy Is Brewing in Dallas

City’s Proposed Ban on Discredited Practice Could Lead to Legislation, Litigation

Dallas LGBT advocates want the city to become the fourth in the nation to outlaw conversion therapy for minors. But unlike in Cincinnati, Miami Beach and Washington, D.C., such a ban in Dallas likely would trigger backlash from GOP state leaders as well as, potentially, litigation from one high-profile “ex-homosexual” counselor. 

The city’s official LGBT Task Force will soon consider a proposal to prohibit mental health professionals from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of people under 18, according to a report in The Texas Observer. Dallas is one of the few Democratic outposts in Texas, and if the proposed ban were to come before the City Council, it would have a good chance of passing.

However, Dallas is also home to one of the nation’s most prominent “ex-gay” therapy practitioners, David Pickup, who identifies as “ex-homosexual” and was a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging California’s 2012 ban on the discredited practice. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s ban, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Four other states have also since banned reparative therapy for minors. 

Last year, Pickup stirred controversy by erecting a billboard advertising his practice in Dallas. Pickup told the Observer the proposed ban would hurt “children who were emotionally and sexually abused who deal with homerotic feelings because of that abuse.”

“They’re obviously going to receive an intense fight against that,” he said. “I don’t care about my business. My priority is my clients who are minors. It will no less than ruin their lives.”

Additionally, the Texas GOP has a plank in its platform endorsing reparative therapy, or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). So it’s possible the Republican-dominated Legislature would attempt to override a local ban on reparative therapy during next year’s session.  

But Rafael McDonnell, a representative from the city’s LGBT community center who’s spearheading the proposal, said he’s unconcerned about potential backlash. 

“I don’t think we should operate from a position of fear,” McDonnell said. “I think we have to forge a constructive path forward, and that constructive path forward is doing what we can to put an end to this practice.” 

McDonnell said he believes the proposed ban is in line with the Dallas’ comprehensive resolution in support of LGBT equality, which was approved by the City Council in 2014. He also said it’s partly a response to recent headlines about “Supergirl” actor Jeremy Jordan’s 17-year-old cousin, Sarah, who was allegedly held against her will at an “ex-gay” therapy program in East Texas. 

After Jordan publicized a fundraising campaign to pay for a lawsuit against Sarah’s parents, causing it to go viral, she was released from the facility.

“For every story you hear like that, there are bound to be others,” McDonnell said. “This is the snake oil of the 21st Century.” 

 

 Image by Daniel Tobias via Flickr and a CC license