Saturday, August 27, 2022

Declare Emergency/Ban "Conversion Therapy"

The City of La Crosse Common Council Administration and Personnel Committee will discuss two very important resolutions, both returning for consideration after being pulled earlier this summer. The meeting wil be held on Tuesday, August 30 at 6 p.m. in person at the Council Chambers of City Hall and online via LifeSize. See below for attendance information.

First: The council will take up a rewritten ban on so-called conversion therapy, "any attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression." See the previous post for more information. We need people to support this ban. More details about how, below. This is item #22-0636: AN AMENDED ORDINANCE to create Sec. 32-191 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of La Crosse prohibiting Conversion Therapy. (Note: The Committee and/or Council may convene in closed session) The sponsor is Council Member Kiel.

Second: The rewritten climate emergency resolution which was pulled from consideration in July after some people were worried that saying "fossil fuels" in a resolution recognizing the emergency need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (which result mostly from burning fossil fuels) might turn some people off. Links to both versions can be seen here

Thirty-nine countries and thousands of municipalities around the world have already declared a climate emergency to draw attention to the existential threat of using fossil fuels. 

This is item # 22-0977:  Resolution declaring a climate emergency, committing to policies that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accelerating the clean energy transition, and supporting intergovernmental cooperation to reduced GHG emissions. The legislation is sponsored by Council Member Mindel.

We need people to attend this meeting in person or online--being there is better--in order to urge passage of both the ban ordinance and the climate emergency resolution.

This meeting is open for in-person attendance and will also be conducted through video conferencing. The meeting can be viewed by typing the URL in your web browser address bar:

https://stream.lifesizecloud.com/extension/1271327/e7506959-fe5d-44ac-805c-9016fb33bd90

Agenda items approved for public hearing by the committee are open to public comment. If you wish to speak ona n agenda item, arrive early to sign up before the meeting begins. If attending virtually and you wish to speak, contact the City Clerk at the email or phone number below so we can provide you with information to join.

Members of the public who would like to provide written comments on any agenda may do so by emailing cityclerk@cityoflacrosse.org or using a drop box outside of City Hall. Questions, call 608-789-7510. 

For each agenda item, time per side (pro and con) is limited to 15 minutes each, with individual spoken testimony limited to three minutes, so, be succinct if you plan to speak. Emailing comments is recommended, whether or not to plan to speak.


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