After the Supreme Court Tuesday struck down a Colorado law that banned licensed mental health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors, California as well as national LGBTQ communities found the ruling to be disappointing and difficult.
Conversion therapy or reparative therapy could be done in different ways, but the goal is the same: making efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Because the therapy tries to change someone through shame and isolation, those who went through conversion therapy often grapple with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and suicidal ideations, according to Terra Russell-Slavin, chief strategy officer for the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
“It leads to higher risk of substance use, homelessness, family disconnection, suicidality,” Russell-Slavin said. “These are not small things that a person has to deal with. There’s a reason we have fought for decades to get this care banned.”
Almost all medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the America Psychological Association, are against reparative therapy.
But supporters, including those from the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity in Texas, said the Supreme Court ruling said the Colorado’s conversion therapy ban censored therapists’ speech based on viewpoint.
“To rob clients of adults or minors of their free speech rights and therapy that does work for them is just unconstitutional,” David Pickup from the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity said. “We are very happy with the ruling.”
The Supreme Court’s decision came as a bill focused on conversion therapy was introduced in the California legislature to give conversion therapy victims more time to sue their therapist for malpractice and damages. SB 934 also seeks to extend the statute of limitations as trauma from such therapy could take years to process, according to the bill authored by State Sen. Scott Wiener.
“Conversion therapy is psychological torture, and California will always stand strong with LGBTQ youth to protect them from the extremist movement to harm them,” Wiener said in a statement.
The Supreme Court decision will not affect SB 934 as the decision was about how conversion therapy is regulated, not about whether it is safe or legal, according to Casey Pick, Senior Director of Law and Policy for the Trevor Project.
“Conversion therapy, even after today’s decision, is still medical malpractice. It is still consumer fraud,” Pick said.
The Supreme Court’s striking down of Colorado’s ban also does not mean people can start conversion therapy in California, the first state to ban reparative therapy.
“The Supreme Court today did not actually overturn Colorado’s ban,” Pick explained. “What it did was reverse a lower court decision and remand it back to the lower court, saying, ‘You need to apply a heightened level of scrutiny when you look at this fall. We think that this is a First Amendment case, that it is about free speech.'”
Pick and Russell-Slavin both said they work with young LGBTQ people who were subjected to the therapy, first-hand witnessing the impact the reparative therapy has on minors.
“What’s really perverse is folks who find it really hard to seek out help from mental health providers because of the betrayal at the hands of somebody who held a government-issued license, somebody who claimed to be an expert, who claimed to be abiding by the standard of care and professionalism and ethics that go with that license, but in reality only did harm,” Pick said.
Russell-Slavin encouraged conversion therapy victims to reach out to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
“Our center’s doors are still open. We still provide reputable, evidence-based, trauma-informed mental health services for our community, including LGBTQ young people, and we’ll help them find supportive services,” Russell-Slavin said.
The Trevor Project is also collecting signatures for a petition, demanding state lawmakers follow Sen. Wiener’s lead to take action and help protect LGBTQ+ young people. The petition can be signed here.
