Tonight, Columbia City Council took its first vote toward repealing Ordinance 2021-021 — the city’s ban on licensed conversion therapy for minors. Tonight’s 4-3 vote is a dangerous step backwards for LGBTQ+ youth in Columbia, but it is not yet final.
Under city law, any repeal requires two votes. The council will need to hold a second reading before repeal can take effect.
The ACLU of South Carolina and the Harriet Hancock LGBT Center remain clear: repealing Ordinance 2021-021 would be nothing less than an abandonment of the city’s moral responsibility to protect its most vulnerable residents.
The financial pressures Columbia faces are real — but manufactured. The state’s decision to threaten municipal funding because the city chose to protect LGBTQ+ youth is a political act of retaliation, not fiscal necessity. The funding in question represents just 0.8% of Columbia’s annual budget — a small fraction of the overall budget that should not dictate whether the city abandons its moral obligations.
This is not fiscal management. This is political coercion.
If the council intends to repeal this ordinance, they owe the public something more than silence. They owe this community a plan.
Repeal is not governance. It is a retreat. And if this council chooses to retreat, it has a duty to say what it will do instead, to safeguard young people placed at risk by that decision.
Tonight’s vote moves us into the final stage of this process. As we approach the second reading, we remain fully engaged — organizing, advocating, and holding this council accountable.
