The nation's highest court has agreed to hear a case involving the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on what has become known as “conversion therapy,” which is an effort to “convert” from one biological gender to another.
The state ban on therapy means that individuals who may be struggling with their gender identity cannot seek out a professional counselor for help, including a faith-based family counselor.
So-called "conversion therapy" is banned in at least 23 states with a partial ban in five more.
“Here you have a law that that even if parents, even if the teenager herself or himself wants Christian-based therapy, based upon a biblical understanding, that that would be forbidden. So, you have the medical health industry hijacked on behalf of the LGBTQ revolution,” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said on Washington Watch Monday.
Less than a year and a half ago, the Court declined to hear a challenge to a similar law in the state of Washington, SCOTUSBlog.com reported. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented then.
Now it’s hearing a case on a very similar law.
Originally, the case was brought by a Christian counselor, Kaley Chiles, who contends the ban violates her First Amendment rights to free speech and the practice of her faith.
The Denver-based Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Chiles, finding that the conversion therapy ban functioned as intended in that it regulated the conduct of counselors, not their speech.
Colorado attorneys said the state’s position was based on “overwhelming evidence that efforts to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective.”
The “hijacking” traces back to the American Psychiatric Association decision in the early 1970s, Mohler told show host Tony Perkins.
In December of 1973, the APA board of trustees voted to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder, citing what it said was a lack of scientific evidence to support such a designation. The decision came amid increasing pressure from gay rights activists.
Newer scientific studies of the day suggested that homosexuality was not inherently pathological, the APA said. The APA justified moving away from the mental disorder classification by saying that homosexuals who were satisfied with their sexual orientation did not demonstrate generalized impairment.
“The American Psychiatric Association one day believed that homosexuality was a mental disorder, and the next day said that it was not. That’s not exactly what I would call science,” Mohler said.
Tying gender identity to mental health, is based on psychology that has gone ignored by many, including Republicans, over fears of being called "transphobic" by left-wing activists. The feeling you are born in the wrong body was recognized as “gender identity disorder” by the American Psychological Association before it caved, under pressure, and began using the vague term “gender dysphoria” instead.
Many of the state’s that ban conversion therapy have “shield laws” that protect access to gender manipulation treatments and surgeries.
“The red and blue America divide shows up on this very issue. I mean, the division between the states, you can pretty much map that by color on the electoral map,” Mohler said.
Almost every issue in every election represents a clash of worldviews, Mohler said.
“It really does matter, on a state-by-state basis, who is representing which worldview.”
The Texas asterisk
People are moving across the map from blue states to red and vice versa based on these issues, Mohler said.
“It’s a very interesting phenomenon,” he said, one with economic impacts.
“In Texas right now they're bragging about it and justifiably so, the movement of companies such as Tesla and others moving vast production facilities to places like Austin, Texas,” Mohler said.
Here’s the asterisk.
“Austin has become a deep blue dot in a very red state, and the way that voting patterns work, this is something you're going to have to worry about. As someone put it, ‘you know, they're moving from California and bringing their voting patterns with them.’ That's not good news,” Mohler said.
