Federal judge denies request to stop Michigan's ban on conversion therapy

Yahoo

31-01-2025

A federal judge has denied a request to stop a Michigan law banning practicing conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors, ruling in a lawsuit brought on by religious groups last year, although plaintiffs have appealed the ruling.
U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering ruled Tuesday the state law does not appear to violate the free speech of mental health therapists in Michigan. A lawsuit, filed in July on behalf of the Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties and Emily McJones, a Lansing-based therapist, sought to have a preliminary injunction issued against the law.
In a 36-page ruling, Beckering denied the motion for a preliminary injunction, writing plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their case.
"The language of the law, on its face, concerns treatment and does not target speech," Beckering wrote. "The law provides that licensed mental health professionals shall not 'engage in conversion therapy with a minor,' with 'conversion therapy' defined as a 'practice or treatment.'"
Beckering is an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based nonprofit legal group that aims to defend religious expression, represented the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Plaintiffs filed an appeal to the Cincinnati-based U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, court records show.
Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling or psychoanalysis, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). According to AACAP, there is no evidence conversion therapy is effective, however, there is evidence the practice can be harmful to children's development.
In 2023, the Michigan House and Senate passed bills banning the practice, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the ban into law in July of that year. The bills passed mostly along party lines, with Democrats supporting them and Republicans largely opposed. At the time, LGBTQ advocacy organizations commended the legislation.
Under Michigan's ban, the definition of conversion therapy would not include counseling for individuals undergoing gender transition, counseling for those coping with questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity, or interventions for unlawful sexual conduct or abuse, so long as the interventions don't attempt to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued the law violates their free speech, free exercise of religion and due process rights because it limits how they can practice counseling minors who are questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation.
A Becket official criticized the law and said the plaintiffs look forward to a ruling in their appeal.
"Michigan's new law pushes vulnerable children down a dangerous path of drugs, hormones, and surgeries that have been banned by the majority of states and federal government," Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement provided to the Free Press. "It harms children, defies the best available scientific evidence, and cuts children off from the compassionate, evidence-based counseling they need."
Twenty-three states currently have laws prohibiting conversion therapy for minors, according to the Movement Advance Project.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office represents the state in litigation against its laws, applauded Beckering's ruling and said her office would continue its efforts to have the lawsuit dismissed.
'The harms of conversion therapy on our children are well known and documented, which is why Governor Whitmer and health officials took action to protect their mental health,' Nessel said in a statement. 'States have a duty to shield their residents, especially kids, from treatments proven to cause devastating harm, and I am glad the Court denied this request to block the enforcement of this critical law."
Whitmer, Nessel, state health and licensing officials, including Michigan Department of Health Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel, and members of the state's Board of Counseling, Board of Social Workers and Board of Psychology are listed as defendants in the lawsuits. Beckering's ruling removed Hertel as a defendant, with the judge ruling plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate her standing in the case.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge denies request to stop Michigan's ban on conversion therapy