COLUMBIA — City Council will vote on whether to repeal its conversion therapy ordinance at a June 17 meeting.

If the City Council wants to avoid losing $3.7 million in state funding, they will have to approve the repeal at the June 17 meeting for first reading and then again next week. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

Two councilmembers, Aditi Bussells and Tyler Bailey, have said they plan to vote no on the repeal. Four votes are needed to move forward with the repeal.

This follows the city deferring the vote twice in previous meetings, which have been filled at capacity with LGBTQ+ advocates urging officials not to repeal its 2021 conversion therapy ban.

Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter to the city on April 22 demanding it repeal its 2021 ordinance that banned conversion therapy — a controversial and widely discredited practice — on LGBTQ+ youth.

The state Senate adopted an amendment on April 23 that would axe state funding for the city if local officials don't comply with the attorney general's order, threatening to strip the city of $3.7 million in state funding.