Just days after a new law passed in Kansas City, Missouri banning conversion therapy. Wichita Marriage and Family Therapist, Asher Wickell says this is a step in the right direction for people in the LGBTQ community.

"It brings the conversation much closer to home to a place where we can talk realistically about is this a change that we can hope to see here," said Wickell

Conversion therapy tries to change a gay or transgender person's sexual orientation or gender identify, something Wickell says is damaging.

"All those things tend to evoke responses like depression, anxiety, social withdrawals, social anxiety. it makes it very hard for people to see anyway at all that they can exist in the world,' said Wickell.

A 2018 study at the University of Texas at Austin reported transgender youth ages 15 to 21 used thier chosen name at school, work, with friend or at home 71 percent experienced few symptoms of severe depression, 34 percent decreased thoughts of suicide and a 65 percent decrease in suicidal attempts.

The city's ban will apply only to minors and to licensed medical or mental health professionals.

Wickel says at this time there are no conversion therapy bans in the state, one local pastor says she hopes that can change in Wichita.

Jackie Carter is a Senior Pastor for the Metropolitan Community Church. She says it's a problem she's seen first hand in her church.

"I have people sitting in my church every single week that have gone through this kind of therapy and are still years later trying to repair the damage," said Carter.

The law hasn't made it's way to Kansas yet. In Kansas City, Missouri, it does not bar religious leaders from talking to young people about their sexuality or gender identity.