Catholic therapists challenge Michigan’s ban on conversion therapy
A group of Catholic therapists has filed suit in federal district court to challenge the constitutionality of a law recently passed in the state of Michigan that bans conversion therapy. They argue that the new law infringes on therapists’ freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in western Michigan, alleges that a Lansing therapist and Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale counties are attempting to “control therapists’ free speech” and “harm vulnerable children by depriving them of the compassionate counseling they so desperately need.”
“HB 4616 goes to great lengths to say that ‘counseling to assist a person in a gender reassignment procedure’ is permitted, while counseling to assist a person in accepting their biological sex is not permitted,” the lawsuit states. Catholic Charities offers family, individual and marriage therapy, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is being led by the conservative Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which successfully represented Michigan-based St. Vincent Catholic Charities in a legal battle over whether religious foster care and adoption agencies can refuse to work with same-sex couples.
The lawsuit names as defendants Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, Elizabeth Hertel, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services, the state’s counseling, social work and psychology associations, and leaders of the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
The lawsuit seeks a judgment declaring that the new law violates constitutional rights to free speech, free exercise of religion and due process, and seeks temporary and permanent injunctions prohibiting the state from enforcing the law.
Nessel’s office, which would represent the state defendants, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering, a judge appointed by President Joe Biden and a former judge on the Michigan State Court of Appeals.
State Rep. Felicia Brabec, a Democrat from Pittsfield Township who sponsored the bill, said she had not yet read the complaint but stressed the importance of the bill.
“As a clinical psychologist, I cannot stress enough how dangerous this practice is and that calling it therapy is misleading and deceptive,” Brabec said.
The ban on conversion therapy for minors was signed into law by Whitmer in July 2023 to prohibit a form of counseling or therapy aimed at getting minor gay, lesbian or transgender individuals to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. The state was the 22nd in the country to pass such a ban.
Lawmakers who supported the bill had argued that conversion therapy exploits vulnerable LGBTQ children, but some Republicans argued that the abusive practices once used in conversion therapy have long since been abandoned. They argued that the bill goes too far in policing free speech between doctor and patient.
The Michigan Catholic Conference said at the time that it would have supported “narrow and specific” legislation banning unethical counseling practices, but said the bills that became law were too broad.
Conversion therapy, under the new law, includes counseling or therapy aimed at changing gender behavior or expression, or reducing sexual or romantic attraction to a person of the same sex. It does not apply to counseling offered to assist a person in changing gender, counseling that provides support or acceptance of a person, or interventions that are neutral to a person’s sexual orientation and prevent or address unlawful behavior.
Under the new law, all psychologists found guilty of using conversion therapy face disciplinary action and licensing sanctions.
In the lawsuit filed Friday, the plaintiffs argued that the law’s regulation of an adviser’s content and views was a violation of their free speech rights; the vague language would lead to arbitrary enforcement that violated the Due Process Clause; and the impact on religious expression and parental rights was a violation of the Religious Freedom Clause.
The lawsuit argues that the plaintiffs use talk therapy that sometimes causes young clients to question their gender identity or sexual orientation, in some cases due to past trauma. In such situations, the lawsuit says, counselors would advise their young clients to “delay major life changes.” The delay, the lawsuit says, gives clients “time and space” to explore and overcome other issues “that may be contributing to their distress.”
“Plaintiffs believe that if a client comes to them wishing to change her gender identity or gender expression to align with her biological sex, or if she wishes to change her behavior to no longer indulge her same-sex attraction, it is their ethical and religious duty to help that client live the life she wants to live,” the lawsuit states.
The new law, the lawsuit says, would prevent counselors from helping clients with those goals because counseling sessions are threatened by complaints from third parties. Already, the lawsuit says, the law has led to “more cautious and cautious” counseling on topics such as sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.
“By prohibiting or preventing plaintiffs from discussing issues of human sexuality and gender identity, their clients are denied access to ideas they want to hear and to counseling that would help them live in accordance with their personal, religious and life goals,” the lawsuit states.
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