U.S. SUPREME COURT ASKED TO HEAR APPEAL OVER BAN ON HELPING YOUTH STRUGGLING
WITH HOMOSEXUALITY
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
WASHINGTON — A religious rights organization has petitioned the U.S. Supreme
Court to hear an appeal regarding California’s ban on “conversion therapy” and
counseling youth to resist romantic desires toward the same sex.
“SB 1172 directly violates the fundamental constitutional
right to privacy in that it prohibits minors from defining their own
existence. The law prevents minors from accessing mental health services
and spiritual mentoring that would assist them in diminishing same-sex
attraction in accordance with self-defined religious, moral, cultural,
and philosophical beliefs,” the Writ of Certiorari recently filed by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) reads.
As previously reported,
in 2012, as the ban was being contemplated in the legislature, Gov.
Jerry Brown remarked that he hoped reparative therapy would be forever
heaved into “the dustbin of quackery.” The bill’s author, Democratic
Sen. Ted Lieu of Torrance, claimed that counseling and therapy aimed at
helping youth turn from the homosexual lifestyle is the equivalent of
“psychological child abuse.”
The legislation
prohibited any type of “conversion therapy,” “sexual orientation
therapy,” “reparative therapy” or “sexual orientation change efforts,”
by licensed therapists and counselors, but did not apply to those who
“provide acceptance, support, and understanding of clients or the
facilitation of clients’ coping, social support, and identity
exploration and development, including sexual orientation-neutral
interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual
practices; and do not seek to change sexual orientation.”
It pointed to statements from the American School Counselor
Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Academy
of Pediatrics and others.
“No one should stand idly by while children are being
psychologically abused, and anyone who forces a child to try to change
their sexual orientation must understand this is unacceptable,” Lieu
wrote in a written statement.
Soon after the bill became law, PJI and the Florida-based
Liberty Counsel filed suit in hopes of obtaining an injunction against
its enforcement. A psychiatrist, a licensed therapist who also oversees a
church counseling ministry, and a resident who struggles with same-sex
attraction and has been helped by the therapy were all represented in
the suit.
“School counselors in private religious schools will only be
allowed to give counseling that affirms same-sex attraction,” lamented
PJI President Brad Dacus. “Youth in the early stages of puberty, when it
is normal for them to be curious, often have fears that they may be
homosexual. These youth are going to be subjected to tremendous
victimization [via the affirmation that is] mandated through every
counselor in the state of California.”
As the legal battle continues five years later, PJI has now
appealed its case to the U.S. Supreme Court, presenting questions such
as, “May a state bar ministers from inculcating or encouraging certain
religious values in youth, when those ministers are also licensed by the
state as mental health providers?”
“Are minors’ rights to privacy, autonomy, and
self-definition violated by a State’s determination that they may only
seek to reduce same-sex attraction on their own or with the assistance
of unlicensed individuals, and they may not seek professional help to do
so?” the legal challenge also asks the court to determine.
Plaintiff Donald Welch, who serves at Skyline Wesleyan
Church in LaMesa, says that the law now subjects him to potential
discipline by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences if he counsels
youth in accordance with the Scriptures.
“In his pastoral role, Dr. Welch is prohibited from
encouraging, enabling or validating sexual beliefs or behaviors contrary
to the teachings of the Church. Dr. Welch’s clientele includes minors
who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual and questioning
youth,” the lawsuit notes, pointing to conflict between his job as a
church counselor and the law.
PJI says that if the court accepts the case, it could be one of the most significant of 2017.
“If the Supreme Court grants our petition for Certiorari,
this will be the most important freedom of religion case for this year
and will impact the rights of counseling ministries across the country,
potentially for generations to come,” Dacus said in a statement.
