Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Activists Urge Conversion Therapy Ban

Some community activists are calling on leaders in Alabama's largest city to ban conversion therapy for minors.

Al.com reports the Affirming Birmingham Coalition wants Mayor Randall Woodfin to support a city ordinance to prohibit mental health professionals from trying to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Some states and municipalities around the country have approved bans prohibiting state-licensed psychologists from using conversion therapy techniques. No such bans currently exist in Alabama.

Al.com reports it's not known if any mental health professionals in Birmingham currently practice conversion therapy.

The mayor's spokesman, Rick Journey, says the coalition met with a representative for Mayor Woodfin earlier this month.

The American Psychiatric Association says minors who are rejected by their families because of their sexual orientation or gender identity are eight times more likely to report having attempted suicide.

Copyright 2021 Alabama Public Radio. To see more, visit .

Alex AuBuchon is APR’s Morning Edition host and also writes news and feature stories. He got his start in nonprofit radio at the University of Tennessee’s venerable WUTK-FM.
The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.
Stories From This Author