Fourth Time Supreme Court Declines to Hear a Challenge to Conversion Therapy Ban

Major Implications for Florida Conversion Therapy Cases Pending Review

Tallahassee — Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court announced its denial of a petition to review New Jersey’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy” on minors, which fraudulently purports to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. By rejecting Orlando-based Liberty Counsel’s petition, the Supreme Court left in place New Jersey’s existing ban. This is the second time the Supreme Court has done so. It has also twice denied petitions to review California’s ban on conversion therapy, leaving that ban in place. Liberty Counsel has two cases pending against bans of conversion therapy for minors in Florida.

Equality Florida is an amicus curiae supporting the conversion therapy bans in the City of Tampa, City of Boca Raton, and Palm Beach County against licensed professionals practicing conversion therapy on minors. Liberty Counsel is challenging the bans. Twenty local governments in Florida have enacted bans.

“The Supreme Court plainly would not have denied this petition if this narrow legislation to protect children and teenagers violates the Court’s own recent precedent in the NIFLA case, as Liberty Counsel claimed in its petition and in its filings in the Florida cases,” said Equality Florida Public Policy Director Jon Harris Maurer. "So-called 'conversion therapy' inflicts harm on minors and has been debunked by every mainstream medical and mental health association. We're proud to support the 20 local bans on conversion therapy enacted around the state.”

Jose Vega, a Floridian who endured almost six years of conversion therapy, including while he was a minor, responded to the news:

“As a conversion therapy survivor, I know just how critical it is to protect minors from this dangerous practice. Conversion therapy is life-altering. It almost shattered my life. We cannot allow anti-LGBTQ forces to roll back the progress we have made in protecting young people from the horrors of conversion therapy.”