In recent commentaries published in the Sunday News-Register, my esteemed colleague, the Rev. Erica Harley, and Mr. Andrew Schneider state that I oppose a conversion therapy ban that has now been passed by the Wheeling City Council.

They are not correct. What I found problems with was an overly broad interpretation of what would constitute conversion therapy in the original draft of the ordinance.

As I stated in my letter of April 19, 2022, to the City Council, the Catholic Church does not endorse conversion therapy.

The Church accepts the individual person’s judgment about his or her sexual orientation and does not ask him or her to change it, while urging the person to observe the norms of sexual behavior that the Church has always taught.

We Catholics believe that homosexual persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”

Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2358.)

Conversion therapy forced upon a young person would constitute unjust discrimination.

Mr. Schneider’s citing of a Catholic priest’s alleged involvement several years ago in conversion therapy in Colorado, resulting tragically in a teenage girl’s suicide, does not represent the Church’s position, any more than a dishonest politician’s actions can be attributed to all men and women in public service.

The main problem with the original proposed ban was its unlimited scope.

Read at face value, the ordinance would infringe on parents’ rights to teach and guide their children. My Church has long taught that parents, not the government, are the primary educators of their children in all things, including sexuality.

According to the original language of the ordinance, no one can try to change a young person’s sexual behavior. So, a mother who discovered her daughter engaging in some form of sexual activity with another girl would be barred by the ordinance from telling them to stop.

A father, whose 10-year-old boy had a crush on a physically developed, athletic older boy and was told by peers that this meant he was gay, would be prohibited from urging his son not to conclude so quickly that he was gay but to let himself grow over time.

The ordinance, as drawn, would only allow affirming the child in a gay orientation without regard for the usual patterns of child and adolescent development.

I stated to the City Council that I found the ordinance deeply flawed for the above reason and others. I thank the Council for reconsidering the ordinance’s language and for focusing it more properly on health care professionals. A ban on the practice of conversion therapy by professional counselors, physicians and psychiatrists is more appropriate and is acceptable to me and many parents.

I applaud the Council for listening to our voices.

The Most Rev. Mark Brennan is bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.