Have 14 cities in Wisconsin banned conversion therapy?

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As of January 2023, an ordinance banning licensed mental health practitioners from using conversion therapy on minors was in effect in 14 Wisconsin cities: Appleton, Cudahy, Eau Claire, Glendale, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Shorewood, Sun Prairie, Superior and West Allis.

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Conversion therapy refers to any practice attempting to alter an individual’s sexual orientation or gender. These city-level bans amount to protections for 24% of the population from conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonpartisan think tank.

While Wisconsin has no statewide ban on conversion therapy, Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order banning federal and state funding of the practice in 2021. A state licensing board under the Evers administration also adopted licensing rules to ban conversion therapy in 2020, but Republican lawmakers voted in 2021 and in early 2023 to block the ban.

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Sources

Movement Advancement Project: Wisconsin’s equality profile

Governor Tony Evers: Executive order #122

Wisconsin Public Radio: Wisconsin committee once again blocks ban on LGBTQ+ conversion therapy

Claims that are partially true or false cannot be checked. In addition, we are unable to check claims for which there are no credible, available sources to verify or dispute them.

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by Jacob Alabab-Moser / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch January 18, 2023

Jacob Alabab-Moser joined as Wisconsin Watch’s fact checker in September 2022, as part of the effort by The Gigafact Project in partnership with different state-level news outlets to combat misinformation in the 2022 midterm elections. Jacob has several years of experience as a fact checker and research assistant at a variety of organizations, including at The Gigafact Project. He holds a BA from Brown University and is pursuing a MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.