Republican AGs ask federal appeals panel to overturn Michigan's conversion therapy ban
LGBTQ+ flags fly outside the state Senate building during Michigan Pride in Lansing on June 26, 2022. | Photo by Laina G. Stebbins
The Republican attorneys general for Iowa and South Carolina are leading a coalition of 11 states in seeking to overturn Michigan's ban on conversion therapy for minors.
Contending that the law censors therapists' speech, the coalition filed a brief Friday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requesting a reversal of a decision issued in January by U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering. Beckering, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, found the Michigan law does not govern free expression of religion or speech, but instead professional conduct, which she said the state has a 'legitimate interest' in regulating.
Passed in 2023 by Michigan's then Democratic-led Legislature, the law prohibits mental health professionals from seeking to alter a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity, a practice known as conversion therapy, or risk facing disciplinary action that could result in the loss of their professional licenses.
However, the group of Republican attorneys general says the ruling sets up a 'censorship regime' that forces mental health professionals to 'choose between making a living in a licensed profession and retaining their right to speak freely.'
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The case stems from a lawsuit filed in July 2024 by Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties on behalf of Emily McJones, a licensed therapist from Lansing, whose practice, Little Flower Counseling, provides 'evidenced-based treatments from a perspective that is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, while loving and caring for each client.'
However, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has determined that not only do conversion therapies 'lack scientific credibility and clinical utility,' there is 'evidence that such interventions are harmful.' That stance is shared by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists.
Regardless, the Republican attorneys general argue Michigan's ban risks tainting medicine with politics. In addition to the attorneys general in Iowa and South Carolina, the brief is signed on by AGs in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota.
'Free speech should protect the medical field from political pressure seeking to stifle scientific advancements. And it is far from clear that the ideological partisan bent embodied in Michigan's law is 'settled' in any meaningful sense,' the brief said.
A similar law in Colorado is set to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court later this fall.
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