People visit the World Pride International Rally and March in Washington for freedom in June in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Conservative judges could enable the legislators to reintroduce the practice of conversion therapy, which aims to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ+ persons. (Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images)
Every week, a teenager Brandon Long advisory sessions enforced that he framed his identity as a failure.
Now an ordained minister in Nordkentucky said, Long said Kentucky State over the years in which he has undergone therapy to free him from his “same -sex attraction”.
“Imagine you would tell yourself after the session that you would be rejected if you stay that way if you stay the way you were as you were,” he said.
Long said in front of a Kentucky House Committee against a statement sponsored by Republicans The invoice That would cancel the democratic governor Andy Beshears 2024 Executive Order The ban is a controversial practice known as “conversion therapy” for minors.
Conversion therapy is a Catchall term for controversial efforts to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ+ persons. Sometimes referred to as “repair therapy”, it can be from conversation therapy and religious advice to Electrical shock absorberpainful Aversion therapy And Physical isolation.
The legislation told the legislators, “creates a lawsuit for conversion therapy and enables parents to force their children into a practice that was convicted of every large organization for medical and mental health worldwide.”
Kentucky’s republican controlled legislator then passed the bill Overwrite the governor’s veto in March.
The conversion therapy was condemned by enormous medical organizations, including that American Medical AssociationPresent American Psychological AssociationPresent American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. They say that it is ineffective and harmful and consists of LGBTQ+ strents for depression, substance consumption, suicide and other mental health problems.
More than half of the states have banned or restricted practice for minor patients since California was the first in 2012, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a non-profit research organization that pursues the laws and guidelines for LGBTQ+-related laws.
But political currents change. Conservative majorities in court, in state legislators and at the federal level have redesigned the legal landscape and opened the door for republican legislators and conservative Christian groups in order to reintroduce a practice that was completely discredited by the medical community.
In March the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear a case challenging Colorado’s conversion ban from Colorado 2019 Out of freedom of speaking. The decision marks a change from 2017When the court refused to hear a contestation of California, and 2023When it was leaning to hear a challenge for the ban on Washington.
The decision of the Supreme Court, which is only expected next year, could reverse or consolidate conversion therapy across the country.
Sometimes a court in Virginia depressed The law on the law on conversion therapy 2020 for minors 2020, a victory for conservative Christian organizations. GOP legislator in Michigan have introduced a legislative template to abolish the prohibition of the state. And MissouriThe Republican Attorney General has filed a lawsuit to remove the local conversion therapy bans.
On the other hand in Wisconsin, the state’s Supreme Court solved the way At the beginning of this year so that the state can permanently prohibit practice.
“The world has changed”
While organized attempts to “heal” homosexuality, promised for centuries near the sexual orientation of a person in the nineties to change the sexual orientation of a person, were created as political debates about same -sex marriage and gay people who serve in the military in New York City, a psychiatrist and a psycho analysis in New York City. He is also a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, whose research has focused on gender and sexuality.
After Massachusetts legalized a same -sex marriage in 2004 and other countries followed, the influence of the supporters of the conversion therapy decreased.
From this year, 23 states and Washington, DC, are prevented from being exposed to the redevelopment therapy, according to a minors analysis the state law through the movement project. Four other states limit practice, for example by not steering public financing into the renovation services.
State laws generally collect fines or discipline the professional licenses of practitioners who try to include minors in conversion therapy. They do not necessarily prevent spiritual or non -licensed consultants from trying such advice.
The bans are more of a public explanation of the acceptance of LGBTQ+ people than a frequently used preventive measure, said Drescher.
“The prohibitions are reinforcement of the conviction that if homosexuality is not a mental disorder or illness, there is no reason to do so
The American Medical Association wrote Model legislation For state legislators who want to prohibit conversion therapy, a broad consensus in the medical community reflects that homosexuality and gender non -conformity are not mental illness, said RJ Mills, a representative of the American Medical Association, in an explanation of stateline.
In the past, some leading psychiatric and psychological associations hesitated to support state restrictions because they regarded the laws as an penalty into the relationship between doctor or therapist patient, said Drescher.
Everyone understands what is now at stake.
– Dr. Jack Drescher, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in New York City, whose research is on gender and sexuality
Now, spurred by Politics of Trump management This space for modern restrictions for LGBTQ+ -Peoper and the Most conservative US Court of Justice in generations, medical organizations are become more raucous in her opposition to conversion therapy.
“The world has changed,” said Drescher. “Everyone understands what is now at stake.”
Freedom of speech argument
Conservative legal companies have filed lawsuits in states, e.g. B. ColoradoPresent Michigan And Virginia In the name of Christian consultants who say that the laws prevent them from practicing their beliefs. They say that the bans should be canceled so that practitioners do not offer their career through their faith because of the provision of services.
A court in Virginia supervised a declaration of consent last month, in which Virginia agreed not to fully enforce its ban on 2020 And to enable consultants to get involved with the therapy of conversion conversion with minors. The plaintiffs in the case were John and Janet Raymond, state -licensed professional consultants in Virginia, which were represented by the founding freedoms law center, an organization that occupies conservative legal causes.
A kind of talk therapy that is now permitted can include conversation, prayer and share written materials such as religious writings, said Josh Hetzler, Raymond’s lawyer, during a public press conference after the court decision.
“With this judicial order, every advisor in Virginia can now speak freely, honestly and openly to customers who have these critical conversations about their identity and listen to the base of faith of trustworthy experts,” he said.
Conservative legislators also cite their Christian faith in their attempts to regain government bans.
The Republican of Michigan State Rep.Anti-Christian laws“including Michigans 2023 prohibited In conversion therapy for teenage people.
A legislative adjutant said that Schriver was not available for an interview and instead referred the statins for the latest substance post, which he sent to his voters by e -mail.
“As legislators, we are obliged to remove laws that exceed the authority granted by our state and federal constitutions” said In the post.
For a long time, the Minister of Kentucky said that the bans were necessary because “nobody willingly entered the conversion therapy”.
“The only reason why a child would go through it is that a trustworthy authority in his life – a parent, a pastor or a therapist – told you that you are broken and repaired.”
At least five states Do you have a law or a policy that prohibits or deter regulations at the local level that aim to protect the youth from conversion therapy.
Some states without such laws pursue the municipalities that have banned the conversion therapy.
The Republican Attorney General of Missouri, Andrew Bailey, sued Jackson County, Missouri, in Kansas City in February, and asked for regulation 2023 in Kansas and the Ordinance of Kansas City 2019, the both licensed consultants from the regulation with minors with minors.
“Our children have the right to therapy that enables honest, unrestricted conversations free of transgender indoctrination,” said Bailey in one opinion in February. He called the regulations “a dangerous handing over” that violates freedom of speech and religious freedom.
A republican loss
In at least one state, conservatives have achieved a legal roadblock.
In Wisconsin, the democratic governor Tony Evers’ administration has been trying since 2020 to 2020 Allow a nationwide ban on renovation Proposed by the state agency that monitors the licensing of the providers.
But the ban was twice blocked through a republican controlled legislative committee.
Evers’ administration sues.
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin stood with Evers last month and decided that the state legislative committee overthrown and could not block the rule.
The Stateline reporter Anna Claire full of can be achieved aollers@stateline.org.
