LISBURN and Castlereagh City Council has backed a motion calling for a ban on gay conversion therapy - without the support of the DUP.
A dozen DUP councillors voted against the motion while two others and two UUP members abstained.
The motion stated that the council supported similar moves in the assembly adding it was "fundamentally wrong to view our LGBTQ community as requiring a fix or cure".
Alliance councillor Michelle Guy, who forwarded the motion, said conversion therapy was in effect a practice, backed by an ideology, that presented heterosexuality as superior or the only legitimate sexual orientation.
"At the heart of all conversion therapy is an anti-gay agenda. It's homophobia played out in an insidious way. It leaves people feeling worthless because they're essentially failing at an impossible task," she said.
"You cannot change someone's gender or sexual orientation, not by therapy and not by prayer. The lived experience for many who end up in conversion therapy settings is one where they're faced with a choice to convert or be disowned by their family, friends and their community."
Scott Carson said the DUP did not support "coercive conversion therapy".
"The Democratic Unionist Party believe that discrimination against someone on the basis of their sexual orientation is wrong. We are all equal and should be treated as such," he said.
"We do not support coercive conversion therapy and are clear that no one should be forced into any treatment against their will.
"The language of the motion calling for an effective and meaningful ban on conversion therapy is somewhat ambiguous. Does this include a ban on gentle, non-coercive prayer? Religious belief, prayer, preaching and conversion does not amount, in our view, to conversion therapy and should not be restricted either directly or indirectly by legislation."
