Second Time SCOTUS Has Let Ban Stand
The United States Supreme Court has just announced it is refusing to hear a case on California’s 2012 ban on conversion therapy for minors. The law bans licensed mental health professionals, including social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and other therapists from practicing what some call counseling designed to turn LGBTQ people into cisgender heterosexuals. Many LGBTQ people call it a form of torture. Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) have been linked to depression and suicide.
The top court’s action leaves in place the ban.
Donald Welch, the primary plaintiff in Welch v. Brown, is a licensed therapist and minister. He claims the California ban is a violation of his First Amendment religious rights. But, as Bloomberg News reports, “California officials urged the Supreme Court not to hear the appeal, saying the law doesn’t restrict what religious leaders can say, except in the context of a state-licensed therapy session.”
Again, the top court’s action leaves in place the ban. It is one of a growing number of state and local bans against so-called “ex-gay” therapy, “reparative” therapy, and “conversion” therapy. A New Jersey judge ruled in 2015 that conversion therapy efforts are fraud. Last week Rep. Ted Lieu and other leading Democrats introduced a bill to ban nationally all gay conversion therapy.
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Image by Daniel Tobias via Flickr and a CC licenseÂ