Catholic counselors sue Michigan over therapy restrictions for transgender children

CNA staff, July 16, 2024 / 3:50 p.m.

Catholic counselors filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday challenging Michigan’s sweeping ban on so-called “conversion therapy” for minors, claiming the law limits their ability to counsel children struggling with their gender identity.

Michigan state law HB 4616 requires psychologists “not to perform conversion therapy on minors.” The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, says the rule “forces counselors to ‘affirm’ children into believing they were born in the wrong body.”

Catholic counselor Emily McJones and several local Catholic Charities affiliates argue in the lawsuit that the law, passed last July, “harms vulnerable children.”

“This lawsuit is about helping children who suffer from malaise because of their biological sex,” says the 33-page complaint in Catholic Charities v. Whitmer.

“I opened Little Flower to provide compassionate therapy to the people who come to me to help them live full, integrated lives,” McJones, a licensed therapist and owner of Lansing-based Little Flower Counseling, said in a July 12 news release from the religious liberty law firm Becket, which is representing the plaintiffs.

“But now Michigan authorities are threatening to revoke my license because I offer a therapy based on my beliefs and the best available science,” McJones said.

McJones joined the Catholic Church in 2017 and opened her practice in 2020. Named after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, known as “the little flower,” her practice offers “psychotherapy from an authentically Catholic perspective,” according to her website.

Her practice is open to everyone. Her website states that she will “never abuse my faith in my practice” and “never force my faith on my clients.”

HB 4616 allows counselors who discuss gender transition with their clients only what state law calls “acceptance, support, or understanding.” It requires that a counselor “not attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Anyone who violates the law can lose their license or be fined up to $250,000.

Michigan is one of 22 other states that have restrictions on so-called “conversion therapy.” A Christian marriage and family counselor’s lawsuit against a ban on “conversion therapy” in Washington state reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023, but the court did not hear it.

“Michigan’s attempt to disenfranchise compassionate, professional counselors violates the Constitution, sound evidence and common sense,” Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior attorney at Becket, said in the group’s press release.

“The Constitution does not allow the government to tell people what they can and cannot say – especially when the government is denying vulnerable children and families the advice they desperately want to receive,” he noted.

The lawsuit argues that HB 4616 violates due process because it uses “vague, undefined terms that invite arbitrary and selective enforcement” and violates the rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.

“Worse, HB 4616 harms at-risk children by depriving them of the compassionate counseling they so desperately need,” the lawsuit states.

“Instead of allowing counselors to help children explore underlying factors that may be contributing to their plight and help them accept and embrace their biological sex, HB 4616 forces counselors to ‘reinforce’ children in the belief that they were born in the wrong body and help them undergo permanent, life-altering medical procedures that many will later regret.”

(The story continues below)

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

The Catholic Church affirms biological sex as a gift from God. A new document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Infinitastated: “Any sex reassignment surgery inherently carries the risk of threatening the unique dignity that human beings have been given from the moment of conception.”

The lawsuit seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against enforcement of HB 4616. A hearing is expected later this year.