#SCOTUS Tuesday sided with a #Christian #therapist, rejecting a #Colorado #law that prohibited #MentalHealth professionals from trying to change the #SexualOrientation or #gender #identity of #LGBTQ minors.
The court’s decision has implications for >20 other states that have similar laws banning [barbaric] so-called #ConversionTherapy, which critics say is ineffective & potentially dangerous for young people.
In its decision, #SCOTUS said the #law, as applied to talk therapy, impermissibly interferes with #FreeSpeech.
“#Colorado may regard its policy as essential to #PublicHealth & safety,” Justice Neil M. #Gorsuch wrote for himself & 7 other justices from across the ideological spectrum. “But the #FirstAmendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
#MentalHealth #SexualOrientation #gender #identity #LGBTQ #ConversionTherapy
Only Justice #KetanjiBrownJackson dissented, reading a lengthy summary of her opposition from the bench.
Colorado’s statute, adopted in 2019, prohibits “any practice or treatment” that tries to change a minor’s “gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
#SCOTUS #Colorado #law #MentalHealth #SexualOrientation #gender #identity #LGBTQ #ConversionTherapy
State ofcls have NEVER enforced the measure, which includes fines up to $5k for each violation & possible suspension or revocation of a counselor’s license. The #law includes a #religious exemption for those “engaged in the practice of religious ministry.”
Kaley Chiles, an #evangelical #Christian, sued the state over the law in 2022, contending it prevented her from working with young patients who want to live a life “consistent with their faith.”
In her court filings, Mrs. Chiles said she was not seeking to “cure” clients of same-sex attractions or to “change” their #SexualOrientation, but rather to help patients with their own stated goals, which sometimes include “seeking to reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions.” [um, #CognitiveDissonance much?]
#SCOTUS #Colorado #law #MentalHealth #gender #identity #LGBTQ #ConversionTherapy
Chiles’s legal team told the court the law should be subject to a demanding standard of judicial scrutiny that would require the state to show its #law advances a compelling govt interest [like preventing #ChildAbuse??] & is narrowly designed to do so. They say that if the law were subject to that higher standard, known as #StrictScrutiny, courts would find that it violates the #Constitution. The therapist's position was backed in court by the #Trump admin.
Colorado’s Democratic AG, Phil Weiser, defended the #law, saying #states have long regulated #medical practices, including treatments carried out through #speech, to protect #patients from substandard care. He warned that a #SCOTUS ruling against #Colorado would undercut the ability of states to #regulate other professions & make it harder to sue all kinds of professionals, including doctors & lawyers, for giving bad advice.
In recent years, #SCOTUS has issued a series of decisions in favor of #religious people, notably #conservative #Christians. In 2023, the court sided with a web designer in #Colorado who said the #FirstAmendment allowed her to refuse to design wedding websites for same-sex couples [even though she’d never been asked to]. In 2022, the court said a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team’s games.
The #Colorado therapist’s case was heard a few months after the court’s #conservative majority upheld a #Tennessee #law barring certain #medical treatments for #transgender youths that the #state deemed unsafe. In January, the justices also heard challenges to state laws in #WestVirginia & #Idaho prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in girls & women’s sports. A ruling in that case is expected by this summer.
#SCOTUS #Christianity #MentalHealth #identity #LGBTQ #ConversionTherapy
In general, the #FirstAmendment prevents the government from restricting #speech because it dislikes the content or message. But #SCOTUS has said certain restrictions aimed at governing a person’s conduct are permissible even if they incidentally burden speech. [if those restrictions adhere to the justices’ own ideologies.]
#SCOTUS #Christianity #Colorado #law #MentalHealth #SexualOrientation #gender #identity #LGBTQ #ConversionTherapy #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #NAR
The issue had split the lower courts. An appeals court in #Florida found a set of similar local laws restricting #therapy in the #state was unconstitutional. A divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit sided with #Colorado, finding that talk therapy provided by a #MentalHealth professional is a #medical treatment that can be #regulated as part of the state licensure process.
#SCOTUS #law #identity #LGBTQ #ConversionTherapy #Christianity #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation
@Nonilex
Gorsuch’s argument can be traced to the notion that any and all speech is permissible. But we know that is manifestly untrue. Yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater may be speech, but it is indefensible and prohibited.
Brown’s dissent follows this reasoning. Telling a child they are on fire and will burn in hell because their body and mind are at war with themselves should be prohibited.
@Hippasus500 @Nonilex so seriously, what are you talking about
go yell fire in a theater. it's something you can do right now. buy a ticket to a movie, go in to the theater, yell fire, and then think about how absolutely silly and wrong that statement you made was, and never let that nonsense darken your mind again.
Nonilex
Hippasus500 aka jwn2
Amoshias