© 2026 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Key West Considers Making Conversion Therapy A Crime

Key West City Commision

The Key West City Commission plans to vote on a proposal to make conversion therapy a crime.

The vote is scheduled for Wednesday evening. Commissioner Jimmy Weekley told The Citizen the ordinance would protect "our young people from any damage" from psychologists trying to reverse a patient's sexual orientation with the practice known as conversion therapy.

The ordinance cites many groups who have condemned the practice, including the , the and the of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Officials in Miami, Miami Beach and West Palm Beach passed similar measures in 2016. A statewide bill banning conversion therapy on minors failed during the last legislative session.

Copyright 2020 Health News Florida. To see more, visit .

Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • White Ibises are common birds of Florida wetlands that increase in numbers with arrival of migrants from more northern areas. While they normally feed in shallow water, they have also become birds of grassy areas such as our yards, parks, and highway and canal rights-of-way. Adults have white plumage with only the tips of outer primaries black -- a characteristic that reduces wear of those feathers. Sex of adults is often easy to distinguish when the birds are in a group. Males are larger with a longer, straighter (but still curved) bill.Females are smaller with a shorter, often more-curved bill. Young White Ibises always have white on their underparts, but recent fledglings can be almost all gray-brown. Over their first year the more-gray plumage is replaced by brown and then gradually changes to the white of an adult. Through much of the year the legs, bill, and face of a White Ibis is flesh-colored or pink, but as nesting approaches the bill, face, and legs become vibrant red. Both sexes have beautiful light blue eyes.
  • A health alert is being re-issued for the presence of harmful blue-green algae toxins in the Sebastian Canal off the Caloosahatchee River and another for or Enterococcus bacteria at North Gulf Shore Beach Access Clam Pass Beach.