LANSING – In response to a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s state ban on the practice of conversion therapy on minors, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a brief opposing the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the ban. The lawsuit was filed in July by Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties and an individual psychologist in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, against defendants including Governor Whitmer, Attorney General Nessel, several state agency directors, and numerous individual members of the state boards of counseling, social work, and psychology.
“Conversion therapy has caused immeasurable damage to countless young people,” Nessel said. “The law prohibiting this debunked and tortuous practice does not infringe on free speech or religious liberties. My department will continue to defend this crucial law and work to dismiss this meritless lawsuit to ensure Michigan remains a place where all children feel accepted, loved, and supported.”
“Conversion therapy is a discredited, destructive practice that harms our kids,” said Governor Whitmer. “I was proud to sign an executive directive preventing state funds from supporting conversion therapy, as well as legislation outlawing the practice in Michigan. We are making our state a welcoming beacon of opportunity and sending a message that in Michigan you can find belonging and be who you are. I will keep fighting so that every kid, no matter who they are, who they love, or how they identify, can envision a bright future for themselves in Michigan.”
The plaintiffs sued to challenge changes to the Michigan Mental Health Code signed into law by Governor Whitmer in 2023 which took effect in February this year to prohibit any Michigan-licensed mental health professional from engaging in conversion therapy with a minor. The plaintiffs allege due process, free speech, and free exercise rights violations, each of which the Attorney General refuted in her brief.
The Attorney General’s filed brief details the destructive history of conversion therapy on minors citing a 2023 report stating it is “now scientific consensus that sexual orientation change efforts are not effective and can cause significant harm.” Within the brief, the Attorney General references studies consistently finding a link between conversion therapy and increased risks of suicide and depression while citing the State’s expert declaring the practice poses “unique dangers to minors’ mental health,” claiming minors who underwent conversion therapy treatment were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who did not endure it.
The brief argues that the state ban on conversion therapy does not violate the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights because it regulates conduct rather than protected speech as it pertains to treatment provided by licensed mental health professionals. The Supreme Court has long recognized states’ authority to regulate medical professions this way. The State argues that it has a compelling interest in protecting children from treatment known and documented to cause devastating harm.
Michigan is one of 22 states to enact a ban on conversion therapy for minors. The Attorney General declares in her brief to the court: “...the reality is that as the scientific consensus as to the harmfulness of conversion therapy grows so too does the consensus among states that such practice has no place in the mental health profession.”
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