The City Council is moving to repeal a ban on conversion therapy to avoid fallout from a pending lawsuit that advocates and lawmakers fear could curtail LGBT protections across the country. Speaker Corey Johnson, who is gay, will introduce a bill Thursday overturning a law passed in 2017 that banned all forms of LGBT conversion therapy. The repeal comes after an anti-LGBT Christian group, Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ban this past January. Advocates worried that the case could reach the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court – and that a negative decision on the Council’s measure could negatively affect other laws protecting the LGBT community. “This was a painful decision that was made after leading LGBTQ advocates requested that the Council take this drastic step,” Johnson (D-Manhattan) said in a statement. “The sad reality is the courts have changed considerably over the last few years, and we cannot count on them to rule in favor of much-needed protections for the LGBTQ community.