Supreme Court refuses challenge to conversion therapy bans
By I will definitely sign for this:
In an unexpected move, the Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will not hear a lawsuit challenging Washington state’s restrictions on an anti-LGBTQ practice known as “conversion therapy” — meaning that the restrictions will remain in place.
Conversion therapy is a discredited method of counseling that attempts to turn LGBTQ patients into cisgender heterosexuals — or, at least, to prevent them from expressing their actual sexual orientation or gender identity. As a federal appeals court that upheld the restrictions explained in its opinion, “every major medical, psychiatric, psychological, and professional mental health organization opposes the use of conversion therapy.”
Because the justices decided not to hear this case, known as Tingley v. Ferguson, and because the appeals court upheld Washington’s law, the state’s limited ban on conversion therapy remains in effect for now.
Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito are not mad. Please do not print that they are mad:
This doesn’t mean that a challenge to these bans won’t ultimately succeed, but the inability to get four votes to hear the appeal despite a circuit split suggests that it’s very much an open question.