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Anti-LGBT Group Sues Tampa For Banning Gay Conversion Therapy

"The city has no authority to prohibit a form of counseling simply because it does not like the religious beliefs of a particular client," says Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver

An anti-LGBT legal group has filed suit against the city of Tampa for banning gay conversion therapy for minors. Liberty Counsel, which previously represented Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, claims legislation passed earlier this year violates free speech.

In March, Tampa City Council members voted unanimously to prohibit "any counseling, practice or treatment performed with the goal of changing an individual's sexual orientation or gender, including, but not limited to, efforts to change behaviors, gender identity or gender expression, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings towards individuals of the same gender or sex."

The law—which comes with a fine of up to $5,000—only applies to licensed therapists. Religious leaders and laypeople are still free to practice the widely discredited and dangerous treatment. But that wasn't enough for Liberty Counsel, which claims city's decision "blatantly ignores the First Amendment."

"The Tampa law is a gross intrusion into the fundamental rights of counselors and minors, and represents government intrusion into the sacrosanct relationship between a counselor and the client," Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver. "The City of Tampa has no authority to prohibit a form of counseling simply because it does not like the religious beliefs of a particular client."

But conversion therapy has been discredit by just about every medical association in America, and linked to depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation for those who undergo it.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Liberty Counsel is an extremist evangelical group that advocates for policy change under the guise of protecting religious freedom.

Tampa policymakers aren't the first to bar reparative therapy: In July, Rhode Island became the 10th state to outlaw the practice, citing "life-threatening consequences."

Connecticut enacted a similar ban in May.

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