Columbia conversion therapy ban unlikely to hold up in court, SC Attorney General says

COLUMBIA — A city of Columbia ordinance banning the controversial practice of conversion therapy would likely be shot down in court, the state Attorney General’s Office said in a new opinion.

The Columbia rule, passed in June, prohibits licensed therapy and counseling that seeks to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of minors. State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, asked the Attorney General’s Office to weigh the legality of the measure.

Kimbrell introduced a bill in the General Assembly that if passed would void Columbia’s rule as well as halt other cities from approving similar bans. The bill is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Medical Affairs Committee.

While court decisions nationwide have been split on the issue, a South Carolina judge would likely find that Columbia’s provision is unconstitutional in violating free speech rights and that the city has exceeded its authority, Solicitor General Robert Cook wrote in his non-binding opinion addressed to Kimbrell.

“While we appreciate and respect the efforts of the City of Columbia in protecting equal dignity for all persons, the City cannot adopt an ordinance that likely violates the state and federal Constitutions,” Cook wrote. “The right to free speech and free expression and thought cannot be undermined or violated, even for a salutary purpose.”

The Attorney General’s Office hasn’t decided whether to challenge Columbia’s ban in court, a spokesman said Feb. 17. S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, has aggressively challenged recent city ordinances, including a series of gun measures passed in 2019 and more recently convincing the S.C. Supreme Court to strike down Columbia’s initial school mask mandate as violating a state budget provision.

Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said Feb. 17 that he had not seen the opinion but noted that at this point the document is just that, an opinion. Rickenmann voted against the ban in 2021 while he was a city councilman running for mayor, saying the decision should be up to a family and their doctor.

“It’s a passed ordinance, so until somebody tells me otherwise, it’s part of what we do and we support the ordinances that are there,” Rickenmann said.

Columbia Councilman Howard Duvall reiterated his support for the ban in a statement Feb. 17, saying the city made the right decision in not subjecting youth to “the abuse of conversion therapy.”

S.C. United for Justice and Equality, a coalition of LGBTQ advocacy groups in South Carolina, said conversion therapy has been universally denounced by major medical and mental health groups as harmful to minors’ physical and mental wellbeing.

“There is nothing unconstitutional about protecting minors from a dangerous and debunked practice that we know results in years of damage to the mental health of young people,” Kimmah Dozier-Burt, board president of the Harriet Hancock Center, said in a statement for S.C. United. 

The capital city is believed to be the only municipality in the state with such a rule on the books. Columbia also passed a resolution at the same time as the ban encouraging state lawmakers to pass their own bill.

Instead, the city’s ordinance has been challenged in the Statehouse. 

A scaled down version of Kimbrell’s bill now says only the Legislature or a state agency can impose rules “regulating the right of conscience” of medical professionals in South Carolina. Any local rule that could conflict with their beliefs would be voided.

Kimbrell has been publicly opposed to Columbia’s ban but said his bill more broadly is meant to keep health care professionals from choosing between their practice and their faith.