COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia has taken first step toward repealing a ban on conversion therapy meant to protect LGBTQ+ youth.

Members of city council voted 4-3 Tuesday in favor of removing the ban. A second vote is required to rescind the ordinance.

Legal and financial threats from state officials led Columbia to consider the repeal – a move that has sparked intense debate over the protection of queer youth, local control of local policies, and the city’s moral duties to the residents who elected them.

The decision to repeal the ordinance comes almost two months after the city received a letter from state Attorney General Alan Wilson demanding that the ordinance be repealed else the city would be sued. Wilson, who is a likely candidate for governor in 2026, has called the ordinance unconstitutional and a violation of state law.

Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, and Councilmen Peter Brown, Ed McDowell and Will Brennan voted to repeal the ordinance. Councilmembers Tina Herbert, Aditi Bussells and Tyler Bailey voted to keep the ordinance.

Brennan read remarks before casting his vote saying that he would like the city to adopt other policies that make Columbia more welcoming to LGBTQ+ residents.

The ACLU of South Carolina and the LGBTQ-rights group Harriet Hancock Center denounced the city’s vote in a joint statement.

“Tonight’s 4-3 vote is a dangerous step backwards for LGBTQ+ youth in Columbia, but it is not yet final. ... 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,” that statement read in part.

Attorney General Wilson issued a statement on social media celebrating the city vote, writing, “The ordinance was never truly about ‘conversion therapy’ but stifling faith-based speech and targeting counselors guided by their religious convictions. Even this initial step is a meaningful victory for faith-based institutions and the rule of law.”

Repeated delays and a budget crunch

Since receiving Wilson’s letter, the city council has delayed voting on the repeal multiple times because leaders did not have enough votes to repeal the ordinance, Mayor Rickenmann and Councilman Brown both previously told The State newspaper.

The state General Assembly escalated pressure on the city when it passed a budget clause pushed by state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, that blocks Columbia from receiving roughly $3.7 million in local government funding unless the ordinance is repealed. Kimbrell was an early opponent of the city’s conversion therapy ban, and he brought the budget clause in direct response to Wilson’s letter to Columbia. Kimbrell is also a likely candidate for governor in 2026.

The weeks-long delay on taking a vote also allowed council members to weigh Wilson’s legal threats, the impact of losing nearly $4 million in state money, and the moral implications of repealing the ordinance, several members of council have said.

The loss of the state money would come as Columbia is staring down a particularly tight budget, City Manager Teresa Wilson has said. Costs for the future operation of Finlay Park, pay raises for police and fire department officers, and temporary shelter for homeless residents are among relatively new expenses city leaders have pointed to as stretching the city’s general fund.

Supporters of the conversion therapy ban have shared skepticism that the $3.7 million loss to the city budget would have a dramatic effect.

“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,” the ACLU and Harriet Hancock Center said in their statement.

Rickenmann has previously said he worries about future threats to state funding and the city’s working relationship with the legislature if the conversion therapy ban remains. City Manager Wilson has also said that the city will have to use hospitality tax dollars to replace those state dollars, likely affecting money used to pay for community events and to support a number of arts, recreation and cultural nonprofits.

Public pleas

Dozens of residents have spoken out in public meetings and written to council members — the vast majority urging them to stand by the ban, which prohibits licensed therapists from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Before the vote Tuesday, residents made more impassioned pleas to city leaders to keep in place the ban on conversion therapy.

“This is a headline grabber for two men who want to be governor,” said state Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, D-Richland, a former member of Columbia City Council. “This is not about Columbia but is about their ambition and who can be the strongest person on the right.”

PJ Whitehurst, a transgender man and community health worker who has addressed council repeatedly on the conversion therapy debate said, “The vote you make today shows how you will make votes in the future, it sets a precedent that our attorney general, our governor and our president can threaten those they do not agree with and you will bend the knee.”

Rickenmann, who voted in favor of repealing the ordinance, has repeatedly said the policy did not have any real teeth because non-licensed counselors, or licensed counselors just outside of Columbia, would still be allowed to practice conversion therapy.

Elliot Naddell, a transgender man, told members of council that the ordinance may not seem significant but it is one brick in a wall built to protect LGBTQ+ people during a time when rights for gay and transgender people are under threat.

“To us, each brick removed makes the next one easier, makes the legislators bolder and makes my community that much easier to reach by those who want to hurt us,” Naddell said.

Before casting her vote to keep the ban in place, Herbert explained that she had just learned of an index that tracks how friendly cities are to LGBTQ+ residents, called the Municipal Equality Index compiled by the Human Rights Campaign.

“As I read it and I saw that the tool is used to help folks in the LGBT community decide where to live, I likened it to the Green Book,” Herbert said. The Green Book was a guide that listed safe businesses for Black residents during the Jim Crow era.

“I know that feeling of walking into rooms and feeling uncomfortable,” Herbert said, adding that she agreed with the concerns from her colleagues who voted to repeal the ban but couldn’t vote to repeal in light of learning more about concerns from the public.

In 2021, council members approved the ban by a narrow 4–3 margin, making Columbia the first city in South Carolina to specifically ban conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy is a controversial counseling practice meant to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s opposed by prominent medical and psychology organizations across the globe, but some faith organizations have supported the practice, and several argued against Columbia’s ban in 2021.

Prominent organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose conversion therapy and say it is ineffective and dangerous.

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