First Amendment vs. counseling bans: SCOTUS delivers a definitive ruling
First Amendment vs. counseling bans: SCOTUS delivers a definitive ruling
By C. Schube, Voices Contributor
Christian Post,
In 2018, the landscape was much different than today. Then, much of the public still bought into the messaging that social conservative positions were "hateful." Thus, nobody wanted to touch issues that had received that label (thankfully, these tides are turning!). So, in 2018, when the Supreme Court signaled that counseling is protected by Free Speech, it wasn't on the minds of many to attack bans on "conversion therapy."
Back then, when someone heard the term "conversion therapy," the imagery that came to mind for many was the harmful, coercive, and forced versions that TV and movies had depicted. This led to blanket bans on any counselor who would provide services to help minors not feel attraction to the same ... or to help a minor align their self-perception with their biological sex. In the eyes of the public, these efforts could not be done in a loving or supportive way, despite the reality that most counselors provide services that are both.
In many jurisdictions, these laws would also require counselors to provide services affirming those perceptions, even if the counselor believed them to be harmful or against their sincerely held beliefs. It would be considered discriminatory to decline.
As a ... rights lawyer at the time, counseling bans were important to me. To me, there were two major concerns. First, some young people actually don't want to be same-sex attracted or to feel like they belong in the body of the opposite sex. For those people — never talked about — they deserve services to help them deal with their unwanted feelings. On the flip side, professionals should not be forced to provide services that do not align with their professional or religious beliefs.
This was particularly important to me because, as a Christian married to a Christian counselor, I did not want my wife to be put in the position to violate her beliefs or to face professional disciplinary actions. As a result, I began writing about the issue in 2015. To me, the bans clearly violated the First Amendment.
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