Following social media criticism of his lone nay vote for a gay conversion therapy ban in Doylestown Borough, council member Joe Flood said a resolution for statewide change more appropriate than local ordinance.

Doylestown Borough joined a small but growing list of Pennsylvania communities prohibiting gay conversion therapy in its borders, but one opposing council member said taking the issue to the state is a better option.

Borough council passed the ordinance Monday night banning sexual orientation conversion therapy for LGBT minors in a 7-1 vote, with councilman Joe Flood against and councilwoman Wendy Margolis absent.

Criticized on social media for his lone vote against the ordinance, Flood said his vote was not one in favor of discrimination. Instead, he said he would rather support a resolution asking legislators to ban conversion therapy on the state level.

Flood, who also voted against the advertising of the ordinance weeks earlier, also said the ordinance was redundant because of other anti-discrimination laws in the borough.

Conversion therapy is a practice that treats homosexuality as a curable mental illness; it has been debunked and denounced by several American psychological and medical organizations.

The borough had been reviewing the ordinance since council President Det Ansinn first recommended it in August.

Shortly after the vote Monday night, Ben Bell, elected on Nov. 7 to replace Ansinn on the council next year, posted on his Twitter account questioning Flood’s reason for voting against the ordinance. “Doylestown Boro (sic) Council adopts ban on conversion therapy as discriminatory. Is Joe Flood, lone nay vote, pro-discrimination?” Bell wrote.

“(Bell) doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Flood said in a Tuesday phone interview.

Doylestown established a Human Relations Commission in 2010, which Flood said gave residents who were victims of any form of discrimination an ability to file an official complaint with the borough.

The commission cannot issue a fine or revoke a license to operate, but it can issue a public “finding” if an investigation found a business or organization discriminated someone based on race, sexuality or other immutable traits.

Flood said Monday’s ordinance reaffirmed the anti-discrimination efforts established by the commission, adding the new language’s focus on LGBT youth could might inadvertently prevent an adult from lodging a complaint if a therapist attempted to practice conversion therapy.

Flood added that there were no therapists practicing conversion therapy in the borough, citing previous discussions with borough officials as the ordinance was being researched.

Doylestown Borough and Reading both joined a small list of Pennsylvania towns prohibiting conversion therapy in Pennsylvania on Monday night, according to a release from the national Human Rights Campaign, an organization advocating for equal civil rights for people in the LGBT community.

Allentown, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are the only other municipalities with existing prohibitions on conversion therapy, the organization’s release states.

Attempts to reach Bell by phone and email for comment were unsuccessful at press time.