President's Message - August 5, 2018

August 5, 2018

Since 1988, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC) has worked diligently to elect LGBTQ-supportive candidates for public office. For three decades, we have worked with these public officials to enact laws, ordinances and policies to provide equal treatment and equal benefits for the LGBTQ community.

On August 28, Florida voters will select candidates for federal, state and local offices. For the past several months, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance (PBCHRCVA) has been interviewing and endorsing candidates, registering new voters, encouraging early voting and voting-by mail, and doing everything possible to ensure that LGBTQ voters turn out in record numbers in support of our endorsed candidates.

We often are asked just how we select the candidates we endorse. Unlike other organizations that just send out questionnaires and make recommendations based on whether and how candidates respond, PBCHRCVA does research and holds face-to-face interviews with candidates. While the process is time consuming, it gives us the best opportunity to make endorsement decisions and to help elect candidates who not only understand and support our issues, but (with the exception of judicial candidates) also will be advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ community. Thanks go out to PBCHRC Secretary Rae Franks for her work on coordinating the candidate interviews.

 

As shown on the PBCHRC website's "Endorsements" page, PBCHRCVA endorses candidates who support LGBTQ initiatives and privacy rights. Endorsements of candidates are made upon consideration of:

• How a candidate has voted on LGBTQ issues, and 
• How a candidate has supported the Palm Beach County LGBTQ community. 

 

All Palm Beach County residents who are registered to vote as of July 30 are eligible to vote in the August 28 primary election; however, not all of the candidates we have endorsed will appear on your individual ballot. 

Vote-by-Mail

If you have signed up to Vote-by-Mail, your ballot for the August 28 primary elections will be arriving soon - if it has not yet arrived. If you have a standing request to Vote-by-Mail and you have not received your ballot, please call the Office of the Supervisor of Elections at (561) 656-6200.

If you have not yet signed up to Vote-by-Mail, it's not too late!  You can sign up to receive a ballot in the mail at any time up to 5:00 p.m. August 22.  You also can go one of the Supervisor's offices to request (and even fill out a ballot) through August 28. 

Signing up to Vote-by-Mail is easy. Click here. And  you can quickly apply for your Vote-by-Mail ballot to be delivered to your voting address. It takes less than 5 minutes!  You can also call the Office of the Supervisor of Elections at (561) 656-6200 to request a Vote-by-Mail ballot.  Please remember to request for "All As Permitted." If you want your ballot sent to an address other than your registration address, you will need to complete a written application with a signature. Click herefor the Supervisor of Elections website. 

 

Be sure to sign and date your Vote-by-Mail ballot return envelope!  Return postage in Palm Beach County is $1.21 (or just use 3 First Class/Forever stamps).  Instead, you may hand-deliver your ballot to any of the Supervisor's offices. (For locations, click here. Ballots MUST be received by 5:00 p.m. August 28. 

Early Voting starts Monday, August 13 

Palm Beach County has 15 early voting sites, open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. starting Monday, August 13 through Sunday, August 26.  Any Palm Beach County  resident who has registered to vote by July 30 registered PBC voter may vote at any of the Early Voting sites.  To see a list of the of the Early Voting sites, click here.

Between now and the November 4 General Election, PBCHRCVA will continue to send out information.  If you do not receive our e-mails, please go to pbchrc.org, scroll down to "STAY INFORMED - GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM PBCHRC" and sign up.

Your votes do make a difference!

PBCHRC'S 30th ANNIVERSARY SUMMER SOIRÉE

On August 4, more than 230 PBCHRC supporters partied the night away at our biennial Summer Soirée, which was held at the National Croquet Club. Thanks to the generosity of our underwriters, every dollar raised from individual ticket sales will go to support PBCHRC initiatives and projects.  

Special thanks go out to Sandy James Fine Food & Productions,  the National Croquet Club and Sutka Visual Design for making the evening magical.

The 2018 Summer Soirée underwriters are:

James Berwind and Kevin Clark

Kaci and Andy Bloemers

Bill Bone

Ocean Ridge Mayor James Bonfiglio

Mauricio Busa and Barry Hayes

David Cohen and Paul Bernabeo

Christopher Caneles and Stephen Nesbitt

Cornerstone Solutions

Palm Beach Town Council Member Lew Crampton

Bill Eberhardt

Congressman Mark Foley

Charlie Fredrickson

Michael Grattendick and Chip Freeman

Howard Grossman, MD

Daniel S. Hall

The Law and Mediation Offices of Rand Hoch, P.A.

Tony Jaggi and Don Watren

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Keith James andLorna Anderson

Ken Keffer Catering

Wood Kinnard and Alberto Arias

Wayne Lewis

Ross Meltzer and Victor Figueredo

Mittleman Eye (Michael Fowler and David Mittleman)

National Croquet Club

Senator Bobby Powell

Scott Robertson and James Swope

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Paula Ryan

Sandy James Fine Food & Productions 

Arthur T. Schofield, P.A.

Trent Steele

Sutka Visual Design

Don Todorich - Corcoran Group R.E

Scott Velozo and Stephen Mooney

AJ Wasson and Randy Christensen

Gregg and Rebecca Weiss

Fred Zrinscak

Thanks also go out to PBCHRC volunteers Alex Heathcock, Steven Licari, Ben Siegel and Tom Valeo, who checked people into the event.

CONVERSION THERAPY BANS 

BEING CHALLENGED IN FEDERAL COURT

 

The Liberty Counsel, an anti-LGBTQ hate group, has filed suit in federal court against Palm Beach County and the City of Boca Raton, seeking to nullify their bans on conversion therapy for minors.  The lawsuit is virtually identical to the one the Liberty Counsel filed last December against the City of Tampa. Similar lawsuits have been filed for years, and not one has succeeded in overturning a conversion therapy ban. In fact, on four occasions , the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear cases challenging the bans.  However, as the Supreme Court turns further and further to the right on social issues, the Liberty Counsel is seeking another chance to allow therapists to abuse LGBTQ children through conversion therapy.  

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, two of PBCHRC's allies who were instrumental in our efforts to enact the eight conversion therapy bans in Palm Beach County, will be filing a "friend of the court" brief in the lawsuit to assist Palm Beach County and the City of Boca Raton in their defense of this lawsuit.

As it takes a long time for these cases to work their way through the federal courts, it would be unusual for anything significant to happen in the near future.  But rest assured, PBCHRC will keep you informed as legal developments occur in the case.

RECENT INITIATIVES

At PBCHRC's request: 

• Last month, the Royal Palm Beach Village Counsel adopted an LGBT-inclusive civil rights resolution.

• The Ocean Ridge Town Council is in the process of finalizing the language for an LGBT-inclusive civil rights ordinance prohibiting discrimination throughout the town.

• The City of West Palm Beach is implementing a citywide requirement for equal access to sex-segregated facilities. 

• City Commissioner Kelly Shoaf is working with the West Palm Beach municipal staff to implement an anti-bullying program.

• City Commissioner Christina Lambert is working to secure annual funding from the City of West Palm Beach for initiatives to assist LGBTQ seniors.

Finally, having accepted a new position as director of development for a hospital in Broward County, PBCHRC Board Member Marcie Hall has tendered her resignation,so that she may devote her full attention to her new job. Marcie was instrumental in having the City of Delray Beach enact both an LGBT-inclusive civil rights ordinance and a ban on conversion therapy. We wish Marcie the best in her new career!

For 30 years, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has worked diligently on behalf of the LGBTQ community. With your support, we will continue to do so in the years to come - and we will keep you posted on our progress!

Judge Rand Hoch (retired),

President and Founder

Local Conversion Therapy Practitioners Sue Palm Beach County and Boca Raton

http://www.slowlyboiledfrog.com/2018/06/mad-mat-and-conversionists-sue-palm.html

Mad Mat and Conversionists 

Sue Palm Beach and Boca Raton

By David Cary Hart, Blogger

The Slowly Boiled Frog

June 14, 2018

Wednesday, hate group Liberty Counsel sued the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County on behalf of two counselors seeking to nullify respective bans on pediatric conversion therapy. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Liberty Counsel's "brief" is 238 pages in full.

Mat Staver,  Founder and Chairman, Liberty Counsel

In an email Thursday, hate group leader Mat Staver writes:

Liberty Counsel represents Dr. Robert Otto, LMFT, Dr. Julie Hamilton, LMFT, and their minor clients. These counselors provide life-saving counsel to minors who desperately desire to conform their attractions, behaviors, and gender confusion to their sincerely held religious beliefs.

"Life-saving?" I would venture to say that it is their parents who are "desperate" to conform their kids' sexuality to their religious beliefs. If the kids are desperate it is usually for the parental approval that is being withheld. Once again, "gender confusion" is a religious term. It does not exist in medical science.

Conversion therapy is junk science per se. There does not exist any current evidence presented through peer-reviewed research published to a respected journal to sustain the belief that conversion therapy is either safe or effective. Virtually every medical and counseling peer and professional organization has concluded that the practice is both ineffective and unsafe.

Conversion or so-called "reparative" therapy practitioners are uniformly religious conservatives. Their approach is premised on the unfounded theory that sexuality is a choice which can be fixed with the right talk therapy. Patients need merely to change their "dangerous lifestyle" to obtain the approval of parents and God. That supposed lifestyle is attacked with vicious bigotry. Counselors employ various aversion techniques ( some quite bizarre) and shame. None of their nonsense will ever change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Our first quack, litigant and crackpot is Dr. Robert William Otto at 2400 W. Yamato Rd in Boca Raton. Otto is affiliated with the Spanish River Christian Counseling Center. Robert Otto is a West Point graduate. His MS and PhD are from Nova Southeastern University, rated #539 by Forbes. Dr. Otto does not actively promote conversion therapy.

The other quack and litigant is Dr. Julie Harren Hamilton at 3307 Northlake Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens. Hamilton is a well-known crackpot having been president of The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) (2009-2011). Even at her own  website, Hamilton does not provide a full CV including her educational background which leads me to wonder if she exchanged box-tops for a PhD.

Dr. Julie Hamilton

Hamilton has a very strange video that she has promoted for years titled  Homosexuality 101. She seems to be claiming that homosexuality is a gender identity disorder. I concede that I was unable to watch the entire video but the box-top swap entered my mind again.

The judicial history does not bode well for Liberty Counsel. In 2012 the Ninth Circuit upheld a ruling in Pickup v. Brown, turning back a challenge to California's ban on pediatric conversion therapy. In 2013 (and again in 2014) the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The Court turned away a challenge to New Jersey's law in 2015 and another challenge to California's law in 2017.

Mad Mat's case seems frivolous. It consists of the usual free speech and religious freedom claptrap. It is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars.

In the final analysis, conversion therapy is consumer fraud. It is profoundly unhealthy for children and, eventually, the parents who have to live with the consequences. It does real harm to real people. These municipal bans protect children from unethical and unsound medical practices. This is a medical issue rather than one associated with First Amendment rights. People do not have a right to injure children. It's just that simple.

2018 Daniel S. Hall Social Justice Awards

Bryant Garcia, Emily Pacenti and Alexandra Smith, graduating seniors at of Lake Worth Community High School, the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts and the G-Star School of the Arts, respectively, have been granted Daniel S. Hall Social Justice Awards, the annual scholarships presented by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

The Council, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, awards the annual scholarship to college bound graduating seniors who have demonstrated  an interest in advocacy on behalf of the   lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community. 

The Social Justice Award is named after Daniel S. Hall, a local attorney who manages a financial counseling company.  Hall, Treasurer of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council since 1990, is the Council's longest serving board member.  As the father of three grown children, Hall has always had a strong interest in education. Over the years, has mentored several LGBT students.  

Bryant Garcia

 

In his capacity as vice president and events coordinator of Spectrum, the Gay Straight Alliance at Lake Worth Community High School, Bryant worked on the World AIDS Day Memorial Quilt project at Compass, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Palm Beach Pride and the Equality Prom.

"Bryant has been an outspoken advocate with a passion for serving those in the local LGBTQ community," said PBCHRC Vice President Carly Cass. 

Cass has coordinated PBCHRC's scholarship program since its inception in 2015.

In college, Garcia aims to bring awareness to a variety of causes including mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

"I will be forever grateful for the chance PBCHRC is giving me," said Garcia. "Thank you so much for your consideration and your faith in my aspirations."

Emily Pacenti

As a two-term president of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance at the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Emily worked together with colleagues Megan Hostetler and Matt Nadel (a recipient of the Daniel S. Hall Social Justice Awards in 2017), the school's administration and guidance department to establish eight gender-neutral restrooms on campus.  Emily also curated a performing arts festival to showcase queer talent, including producing a show titled "Walk in Closet," which featured queer performance art, including poetry, dance and live music.  She also succeeded in encouraging the school's administration to allow gender nonconforming students to have their preferred names in the yearbook. 

Alexandra Smith

Alex Smith, a graduate of the G-Star School of the Arts, became an  activist in 2016, when she was accepted as a member of the Palm Beach Youth Leadership Council, a select group of local students  advocating for sexual health education in Palm Beach County by means of peer education and traditional organizing tactics. Alex was a featured speaker at various programs, including the prestigious Deeper Well Sex Educators Conference in Atlanta.  She also addressed a crowd of more than 4,000 people at the Women's March in West Palm Beach.  Alex also has addressed elected officials in support of sexual health education throughout Florida and in Washington, D.C. During her senior year, Alex served as a lead organizer on the Palm Beach Youth Leadership Council and as an active member of Planned Parenthood's Generation Action. She looks forward to continuing her activism in college.

The three $1,000 scholarships will be presented by Daniel S. Hall at the Compass Lavender Graduation, which will be held on June 6 at 5:30 p.m.

Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance Endorsements - General Election 2018

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance endorses candidates who support LGBTQ initiatives and privacy rights. Endorsements of candidates are made upon consideration of:

• How a candidate has voted on LGBTQ issues
• How a candidate has supported the Palm Beach County LGBTQ Community 

The following candidates have been endorsed by The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance in their campaigns for election or re-election in the November 6, 2018 General Election:

U.S. Senate - Bill Nelson

U.S. Congress (Dist. 18) - Lauren Baer

U.S. Congress (Dist. 20) - Alcee Hastings
U.S. Congress (Dist 22) - Ted Deutch

Governor - Andrew Gillum
Attorney General - Sean Shaw
Chief Financial Officer - Jeremy Ring
Commissioner of Agriculture - Nicole "Nikki" Fried

Florida Senate (Dist. 30) - Bobby Powell

Florida House of Representatives (Dist. 82) - Edward O'Connor
Florida House of Representatives (Dist. 85) - Ellen Baker
Florida House of Representatives (Dist. 86) - Matt Willhite
Florida House of Representatives (Dist. 87) - David Silvers 
Florida House of Representatives (Dist. 89) - James Bonfiglio 

Port of Palm Beach (Group 5) - Joseph Anderson

Circuit Court Judge (Group 18) -  Marybel Reinoso Coleman
Circuit Court Judge (Group 25) -  Michael McAuliffe

County Commissioner (Dist. 2) - Gregg Weiss
County Commissioner (Dist. 4) - Robert S. Weinroth

Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation (Group 1) - Michelle Sylvester
Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation (Group 5) - Eva Webb

Board of Supervisors of the Northern PBC Improvement District (Seat 2) - Jim Gibbs

County Court Judge (Group 4) - Ashley Zuckerman

PBCHRCVA also recommends that you VOTE YES ON AMENDMENT 4 to restore voters rights.

PLEASE NOTE:  NOT ALL OF THESE RACES 

MAY APPEAR ON YOUR BALLOT.

 ___________________________________________________

The following candidates who have been endorsed by The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance were elected or re-elected since 2016:

U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch
U.S. Congresswoman Lois Frankel
U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings

State Senator Lori Berman
State Senator Bobby Powell
State Senator Kevin Rader
State Representative Joseph Abruzzo
State Representative Lori Berman
State Representative Joe Casello
State Representative Bill Hager
State Representative Al Jacquet
State Representative Tina Polsky
State Representative David Silvers

State Representative Emily Slosberg

State Representative Matt Willhite
County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger
County Commissioner Mack Bernard
County Commissioner Dave Kerner
County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay
Clerk of the Circuit Court Sharon Bock
Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks
Public Defender Carey Haughwout
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
State Attorney Dave Aronberg
Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher
Tax Collector Anne Gannon
School Board Member Marcia Andrews
School Board Member Frank Barbieri
School Board Member Karen Brill
School Board Member Barbara McQuinn
School Board Member Debra Robinson
School Board Member Chuck Shaw
School Board Member Erica Whitfield

Port Commissioner Blair Ciklin 

Port Commissioner Jean Enright

Port Commissioner Wayne Richards
Port Commissioner Katherine Waldron
Circuit Court Judge Dina Keever
County Court Judge Marni Bryson
Palm Beach Soil and Water Conservation Board Member Pat Edmonson
Palm Beach Soil and Water Conservation Board Member Rob Long

Boca Raton City Council Member Monica Mayotte

Boca Raton City Mayor and Council Member Scott Singer

Boynton Beach Mayor Steven B. Grant

Boynton Beach City Commissioner Joe Casello

Boynton Beach City Commissioner Mack McCray

Delray Beach City Commissioner Adam Frankel

Greenacres City Councilwoman Judith Dugo

Greenacres City Councilwoman Paula Bousquet

Haverhill Town Councilman Daniel Sohn

Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo

Lake Worth City Commissioner Andy Amoroso

Lake Worth City Commissioner Scott Maxwell

Lake Worth City Commissioner Herman Robinson

Palm Beach Gardens City Councilman Mark Marciano

Palm Beach Gardens City Councilman Matthew Lane

Palm Beach Shores Mayor Myra Koutzen

Palm Beach Town Councilman Lew Crampton

Palm Beach Town Councilwoman Danielle Hickox Moore

Rivera Beach City Councilwoman Tonya Davis Johnson

Riviera Beach City Councilwoman KaShamba Miller-Anderson

Royal Palm Beach Mayor Fred Pinto

Royal Palm Beach Village Councilwoman Selena Smith

Wellington Village Councilman John McGovern

Wellington Village Councilman Michael Napoleone

Wellington Village Councilwoman Tanya Siskind

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Keith James

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Cory Neering

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Paula Ryan

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Kelly Shoaf

This paid electioneering communication, which is independent of any party, candidate or committee, is produced, sponsored and paid for by the  Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance.
Post Office Box 267, West Palm Beach, Florida 33402
(561) 358-0105

Palm Beach County is first in Florida to ban discredited LGBTQ "conversion therapy"

December 19, 2017

Commissioner Dave Kerner, Vice Mayor Mack Bernard, Commissioner Hal Valeche, Mayor Melissa McKinlay, and Commissioners Mary Lou Berger, Paulette Burdick and Steven Abrams.

 

(West Palm Beach, Florida) Following this morning's 5-2 vote by county commissioners, Palm Beach County became the first county in Florida -- and the largest county in the United States -- to prohibit conversion therapy for minors. Commissioners Steven Abrams and Hal Valeche cast the sole vote against the ban.

 

 Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy or sexual orientation change efforts, encompasses a range of discredited counseling practices by which health care providers or counselors seek to change a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression through aversion treatment.

  

The ban covers Palm Beach County's 39 municipalities as well as the county's unincorporated areas. It applies to doctors, osteopaths, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, marriage or family therapists and counselors licensed by the State of Florida as well as  people who perform counseling as part of the person's professional training.  

 

The ban does not apply to members of the clergy unless they are also licensed -- or in training to become licensed -- mental health professionals.  

 

In June, 2016, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC), the county's most effective civil rights organization, asked county commissioners to enact the ban.  

 

PBCHRC Board Member Trent Steele headed up the campaign to ban conversion therapy throughout Palm Beach County.

 

"Kudos to Palm Beach County Commissioners for recognizing that instilling self-hatred in LGBTQ children through psychological torture is not therapy," said Steele.   

 

 

For almost three decades, PBCHRC, an independent non-profit organization, has succeeded in having public officials enact more than 120 laws and policies providing equal rights, benefits and protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) community.  

"Palm Beach County has repeatedly taken the lead in protecting the rights of LGBTQ people," said PBCHRC President and Founder Rand Hoch. "As a result, Palm Beach County is now one of the safest places in the world for LGBTQ people to live, study, work, create families, raise children and retire.

   

Dr. Rachel Needle, a local psychologist, told county commissioners that the practice of conversion therapy is based on two false premises.

"First, it is based on the falsehood that being gay, lesbian or transgender is a mental disorder or defect that needs to be cured," said Needle. "And second, it is based on the presumption that being LGBTQ is something that can actually be changed through therapy."

Needle, who is also an adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University, stated that the potential risks of conversion therapy on children include shame, guilt, depression, decreased self-esteem, increased self-hatred, feelings of anger and betrayal, loss of friends, social withdrawal, problems in sexual and emotional intimacy, hostility and blame towards parents, high risk behaviors, confusion, self-harm, substance abuse and suicidal ideation.

Dr. Julie Harren Hamilton, a local psychologist who treats patients for what she refers to as "unwanted same-sex attraction, led the opposition to the countywide ban.

Hamilton also opposed the eight municipal conversion therapy bans that have already been enacted throughout Palm Beach County over the past 18 months. However each of her campaigns failed in those municipalities which considered -- and enacted -- bans on conversion therapy for minors.

 

At today's public hearing, as well as at the December 5 first reading of the ordinance, Hamilton and her minions tried to persuade county commissioners that LGBTQ people needed to be corrected through "talk therapy".  They implored the commissioners to reject -- or at least water down -- the ordinance.  

 

But to no avail.

"For the past eighteen months I have had to endure these people suggesting to elected officials that gay people are God's mistakes and then go on to say that they are the ones who can fix God's mistakes through therapy," said Hoch. "How arrogant!"

 

Hoch told county commissioners that the choice before them was clear: "You can vote to protect children from harm, or you can vote to protect these people who want to continue to cause children harm. Basically, the choice is between kids and quacks."

 

"As a county commissioner, it is my duty to work to ensure the safety of our residents -- especially our children," said Mary Lou Berger, who brought the ordinance before the county commission last year at the request of PBCHRC. "Conversion therapy has been rejected by virtually every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades. No child in Palm Beach County should be subjected to this so-called treatment." 

  

Nearly every major medical and psychological association in the country has come out in opposition to conversion therapy. These include the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American College of Physicians, the American Counseling Association, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American School Health Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, the Pan American Health Organization, the Regional Office of the World Health Organization and the World Psychiatric Association.

Conversion therapy has also been rejected by the American Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Education Association and the School Social Work Association of America.

PBCHRC partnered with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Both organizations have been successful in their efforts to protect minors from being subjected to the harms caused by conversion therapy.

In addition, PBCHRC worked closely with SAVE, a South

Florida LGBTQ rights organization which was the driving force behind six of the conversion therapy bans enacted in Broward and Miami-Dade.

"Palm Beach County made history today, becoming the first county in Florida to ban conversion therapy for minors," said Scott McCoy, senior policy counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).  

"We applaud the county commissioners for supporting the well-being of LGBTQ youth, and for taking a stand against this extremely dangerous and fraudulent practice that claims to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity."  

 

Last May, SPLC published a comprehensive report entitled " Quacks: 'Conversion Therapists,' the Anti-LGBT Right, and the Demonization of Homosexuality."

"Conversion therapy is harmful to our youth and must be stopped," said McCoy. "We urge the rest of Florida to follow the example set by Palm Beach County, and pledge to protect our youth from this heinous practice."

"Numerous studies have linked conversion therapy to depression, substance abuse and even suicide, and these risks are particularly acute for youth," said Carolyn Reyes, Youth Policy Counsel and Coordinator of NCLR's BornPerfect Campaign to end conversion therapy 

"We applaud the efforts by the county commissioners to ensure that the children of Palm Beach County are protected from these harms, and that their families aren't duped by trusted professionals to whom they turn for support during a vulnerable time," said Reyes.

Across the nation, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia, Pima County (AZ), Cincinnati (OH), Seattle (WA), Pittsburgh (PA), Toledo (OH), Columbus (OH), Allentown (PA), Dayton (OH), Athens (OH) and New York City have enacted laws preventing licensed mental health providers from offering conversion therapy to minors.

Sixteen Florida municipalities -- Miami Beach, Wilton Manors, Miami, North Bay Village, West Palm Beach, Bay Harbor Islands, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, El Portal, Key West, Tampa, Delray Beach, Riviera Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Boca Raton and Oakland Park -- have enacted conversion therapy bans for minors.

Broward County, which gave initial approval to an ordinance banning conversion therapy ban earlier this month, is expected to enact a ban in January. Gainesville City Commissioners are also expected to enact a ban within the next few months.

In early December, The Liberty Counsel, an anti-LGBTQ hate group, filed suit against the City of Tampa in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to overturn that city's conversion therapy ban.

Hoch does not expect that lawsuit to be successful.

"Every court challenge to the constitutionality of banning conversion therapy ever filed in the United States has failed," said Hoch, who served as Florida's first openly gay judge in the 1990s. "And as recently as last May, the U.S. Supreme Court -- with Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch participating -- declined to consider an appeal filed in an attempt to overturn a statewide conversion therapy ban."

That was fourth time the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by an anti-LGBTQ group to overturn a conversion therapy ban, according to Hoch.