Republican lawmakers block LGBTQ+ “conversion therapy” ban for second time

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Republicans in Wisconsin voted Thursday to once again block a statewide ban on so-called LGBTQ+ “conversion therapy.”

Under Gov. Tony Evers (D), the state’s Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board, an examining board in the Department of Safety and Public Standards (DSPS) which oversees licensing for mental health professionals, adopted rules banning the widely discredited practice of attempting to change LGBTQ+ patients’ sexuality or gender identity in 2020.

In 2021, Republicans on the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules temporarily suspended the ban. Republicans in both the state Senate and Assembly both took up a bill blocking the DSPS rule, but that bill died in committee at the end of the 2021–22 legislative session, and the committee’s ban lapsed. The ban on “conversion therapy” went back into effect on December 1.

On Thursday, the six Republicans on the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules voted to once again temporarily suspend the ban. The committee’s four Democrats opposed the move.

Mike Mikalsen, chief of staff for rules committee co-chair state Sen. Steve Nass (R), claimed that the DSPS licensing board had…

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