The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to California’s ban on gay conversion therapy on minors.
In rejecting the case, the Supreme court let stand a federal appeals court ruling that conversion therapy has no scientific underpinnings and that the ban did not infringe on the free speech rights of counselors or people who were seeking treatment. The court also held that the state had a legitimate interest in banning professional treatments it deemed to be harmful.
UPI reports that “The high court’s decision not to hear the case allows a federal appellate ruling to stand and a stay on enforcing the law to end.”
California state Sen. Ted Lieu, who authored the law, said in a statement:
“The Supreme Court has cemented shut any possible opening to allow further psychological child abuse in California. The Court’s refusal to accept the appeal of extreme ideological therapists who practice the quackery of gay conversion therapy is a victory for child welfare, science and basic humane principles. Those who oppose letting children be what they were born to be can no longer claim that the law infringes the free speech rights of therapists who wish to engage in these dangerous and long-discredited practices.
“My law can now be fully enforced as passed by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. Today we once again reaffirm the truth that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is the beautiful realization of what it means to be a human being.
“I look forward to more states joining California and New Jersey in adopting similar pro-family measures and helping to protect our children.”
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