The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a lower court decision that upheld the State of Washington’s ban on “conversion therapy.”
Three justices said that they would have heard the appeal. One of them, Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that under the law, “licensed counselors can speak with minors about gender dysphoria, but only if they convey the state-approved message of encouraging minors to explore their gender identities. Expressing any other message is forbidden—even if the counselor’s clients ask for help to accept their biological sex.”
The law, enacted in 2018, applies to licensed health care providers “with respect to performing conversion therapy on patients under age 18.” It forbids ”efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.” Presumably, then, if a 17-year-old expressed strong pedophilic attractions toward members of the same sex, the law would forbid health care providers from seeking to dissuade him.