Columbia Council establishes committee to advise on LGBTQ issues
The city of Columbia has established a committee to advise the City Council on issues facing the LGBTQ community.
The Council on June 1 voted unanimously to establish the Advisory Committee on Equality. The city has not yet appointed members to the group, but Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine said those initial appointments could come at the Council’s June 15 meeting.
Per city documents, the new advisory committee would work “to foster equitable working and living conditions for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people and to advocate for LGBTQ issues in all areas of city government.” The committee would help develop city policy regarding civil rights issues affecting LGBTQ people, provide education about the needs of the LGBTQ community, and coordinate among city departments, agencies, and offices to improve LGBTQ access to services, per city paperwork.
“We need a conduit of information between the LGBTQ community and the City Council and city staff, so that, when issues come up, they can be voiced pretty easily with the appropriate staff,” Councilman Howard Duvall told The State.
Mayor Steve Benjamin said the establishment of the new committee was a “wonderful move” that would help “establish the community as a diverse and inclusive community that supports our LGBTQIA citizens.”
Devine and Duvall were tasked with helping initially establish the Advisory Committee on Equality. Devine said June 1 that she doesn’t imagine the city would put a cap on the number of members who could be a part of the group.
“We view this as a committee that would be open, such as our other committees, that would give us advice, and there is no limit on the number of people we would appoint,” Devine said.
Aside from members that would be nominated by Council, there would be posts on the committee set aside for a number of LGBTQ advocacy agencies, including SC Pride, SC Equality, Black Pride, SC United for Justice and Equality, and the Harriet Hancock Center.
The establishment of the Advisory Committee on Equality isn’t the first time recently the Council has waded into issues affecting the LGBTQ community. On May 4, it gave a unanimous first approval on an ordinance that would prohibit professional therapists from offering conversion therapy that attempts to change the sexual orientation of LGBTQ minors.
As outlined in the ordinance, conversion therapy — sometimes referred to as reparative therapy or ex-gay therapy — is considered a “treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.” Essentially it is an attempt, through therapy, to change someone’s sexual orientation from gay, lesbian or bisexual to straight.
The ordinance would prohibit “any provider to provide conversion therapy or reparative therapy to a minor within city limits if the provider receives compensation for such services.” The penalty would be civil, not criminal, and would carry a $500 fine.
That move has gotten pushback. State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, a Spartanburg County Republican, asked Republican S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson to consider taking legal action against the city if it passed the ban. Kimbrell called the would-be city ordinance “a violation of the concept of the First Amendment.”
The Council has not yet taken up a final vote on the conversion therapy ban for minors, though officials said that vote could come at a June 15 meeting.
