Local activist’s work toward conversion therapy bans in Ohio

  

Cuyahoga County unanimously passed a ban on conversion therapy for minors and vulnerable adults on September 9th, 2025. The ban was sponsored by District 6 Councilman Robert Schleper Jr., and co-sponsored by eight other council members out of the 11 seats in the chamber.

 The ordinance was written by Brandon West with help from Sarah Kolick and sponsored by Councilman Robert Sclepper Jr.

 

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, Conversion Therapy is defined as interventions purported to alter same-sex attractions or an individual’s gender expression with the specific aim to promote heterosexuality as a preferable outcome. According to Stanford Medicine, Conversion practices are linked to depression, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts in LGBTQIA+ adults.

 

23-year-old advocate Brandon West started his advocacy journey by getting conversion therapy banned in his hometown of Lorain County. He advocated for that ban on his own. Once the news of what he accomplished broke, Sarah Kolick, a full-time attorney at the West Lake firm Minc Law, reached out to West. Together, they drafted an ordinance for getting conversion therapy banned in Cuyahoga County.

 

 The conversion therapy ban in Cuyahoga County was passed exactly a year after the conversion therapy ban in Lorain County was passed. “It was kind of symbolic having Cuyahoga County pass it just a year later,” West said

 

The pair met with Cuyahoga CountyCouncil President, Dale Miller, about the ban. West said the meeting went well, but Miller wanted more information.  “ We kind of took it home and were like, how can we get the statistics that he might want in order to continue this push?” West said.

 

Research from The UCLA School of Law Williams Institute shows the public shares similar doubts with the activist about the effectiveness of Conversion Therapy. The study cites that only 8% of respondents to a 2014 national poll said they thought conversion therapy could change a person’s sexual orientation.

 According to PBS News, In the case of Ryan Robertson in Washington state his christian mom Linda Robertson put him in conversion therapy at the age of 12 and when the therapy didn’t work, Ryan blamed himself making him depressed and ashamed and in 2009 he died after multiple sucicide attempts and a drug overdose at 20. Mrs. Robertson testified in front of the supreme court in the case Chiles v. Salazar with her son’s story and the negative effects conversion therapy caused him.  As said on PBS News, “What happened in conversion therapy, it devastated Ryan’s bond with me and my husband,” she said.“And it absolutely destroyed his confidence he could ever be loved or accepted by God.”

The  UCLA study estimated 57,000 youth (ages 13-17) across all states will receive conversion therapy from religious or spiritual advisors before they reach the age of 18. 

Prompting activists and concerned citizens to turn to the local level to protect the community against the practices. Kolick said another challenge during the early stages of the process, it was challenging to gain traction without connections. “ We weren’t connected with an organization, and the only real way I felt you could get into contact with someone in the county is if you had a foot in the door with a contact,” Kolick said.  

 

While they were still gaining traction , Robert Schlepper Jr., who was running for county councilman at the time, reached out to West and Kolick offering to sponsor their conversion therapy ban.

 

When he was elected, Schlepper became the first openly gay councilman in Cuyahoga County and assumed office on January 1 of this year. He worked with West and Kolick and the law department to revise the proposed conversion therapy ban before it eventually passed. . “ I was a little shocked by his words, and it passed unanimously, but it did, and as soon as it did, I bawled out, crying right in the audience,” West said. 

 

15 cities and one county in Ohio have passed legislation banning  Conversion Therapy.  “I expected the ban to pass but it’s still an encouraging sign that there can be local resistance, even in an age where LGBTQ rights are under constant attack,” Kolick said. 

 

In the Movement Advancement Project, it states that  23 states  and D.C prohibit licensed health care providers from subjecting minors to the practice, 4 states  and 1 territory restrict the practice,  and 5 states prohibit local laws on the practice altogether. West mentioned, after the ban passed in Lorraine county he received multiple messages from LGBTQ inclusive families telling him that their child finally felt comfortable enough to get mental health care knowing they couldn’t get subjected to conversion therapy.