Assistant City Attorney Maria Garcia, far right, discusses Ordinance 9828 with members of the City Commission.
City leaders have adopted an ordinance that bans so-called conversion therapy that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, calling the practice harmful to children.
As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously to adopt Ordinance 9828, which specifically prohibits licensed providers from practicing conversion therapy on minors. Vice Mayor Courtney Shipley, who originally proposed the ban, referred to research that shows the therapy is detrimental to mental health and increases suicide risk.
“The very most basic thing that we have to do is to protect each other and to protect children, and I feel that this does that,” Shipley said.
Lawrence City Commission passes conversion therapy ban unanimously kansan.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kansan.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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“With many cameras around here, around the hospital, we’re hoping that some of the surveillance footage can catch the image,” Andrew Holmes, a crisis responder, said during a Tuesday press conference near where Hemphill was found. “My understanding is that he might have been there a day before neighbors called [911] about a suspicious car.”
Hemphill, who lived in Beverly, was found slumped over in the front passenger’s seat of a car that was parked in front of a garage near the southern mouth of the alley in the 9300 block of South Oglesby.
An autopsy performed by the medical examiner’s office found that Hemphill died of several gunshot wounds.
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