Where is that conservative e majority on this? Since SCOTUS has effectively provided the bed for LGBTQAI++, requiring all states to effectively salute the flag of Sodom, it finds its hard to support anyone who refuses to do so.
Posted on 12/11/2023 9:04:41 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal filed by a Christian therapist against Washington state's ban on "gay conversion therapy," allowing the law to remain in effect.
In an orders list released Monday morning, the high court declined without comment a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of Brian Tingley v. Robert W. Ferguson, Attorney General of Washington state, et al.
The decision received separate dissenting opinions from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Thomas claimed that Washington had "silenced one side of this debate" through state law.
"A law that restricts speech based on its content or viewpoint is presumptively unconstitutional and may be upheld only if the state can prove that the law is narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests," wrote Thomas.
Thomas argued that the state law was "viewpoint-based and content-based discrimination in its purest form" and "presumptively unconstitutional," adding that "the state must show that it can survive strict scrutiny before enforcing it."
In 2018, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5722 into law. The measure prohibited licensed therapists from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts therapy on underaged individuals.
Also referred to as "conversion therapy" or "reparative therapy" by critics, SOCE therapy involves counseling that attempts to reduce or eliminate same-sex sexual attraction in a person.
While the law exempts religious groups, Tingley filed suit against Washington in 2021, arguing that the exemption did not sufficiently protect the freedoms of religion and speech.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously against Tingley in September 2022, with Circuit Judge Ronald M. Gould writing the court opinion.
"States do not lose the power to regulate the safety of medical treatments performed under the authority of a state license merely because those treatments are implemented through speech rather than through scalpel," wrote Gould, a Clinton appointee.
"Washington's law prohibits therapists from practicing conversion therapy on minors. It makes no reference to religion, except to clarify that the law does not apply to practice by religious counselors."
In January, the 9th Circuit voted to deny a full court rehearing for the lawsuit. Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, a Reagan appointee, authored a statement respecting the order but believing that the earlier panel opinion had an "erroneous" reasoning.
"In sum, under binding Supreme Court precedents, conversion therapy consisting entirely of speech cannot be prohibited without some degree of First Amendment scrutiny," wrote O'Scannlain.
"The panel cites no evidence for the implausible proposition that conversion therapy conducted entirely by means of speech risks direct physical harm. … Speech which risks psychological harm does not thereby become non-speech conduct entire without First Amendment protections."
What a travesty!! So the Supremes get to decide what medical procedures are allowed.
Boggles the mind how corrupt we’ve become.
I suppose psychiatric help for someone with multiple personality (schizophrenia) should also be illegal, since that’s their identity.
“Washington’s law prohibits therapists from practicing conversion therapy on minors.”
You can help a minor get an abortion or presumably alter their sexual equipment, but…🙄🙄🙄
All they need to do is call it “Reflections on Biology” therapy.
Science!
Miami Florida media is celebrating this terrible decision.
The good news, if there can be any coming out of this terrible decision, “Sideshow Bob” Ferguson the State AG, and governor wannabe is polling behind a Republican, former congressman and King County Sheriff who is credited with arresting the Green River Serial Killer, who thanks to the likes of Sideshow Bob and the current governor’s actions lounges in relative comfort inside one of the state’s prisons instead of being executed.
Funny, how liberals love killing innocent babies but go to the wall to protect adult killers. Mental disease, full stop.
Where is that conservative e majority on this? Since SCOTUS has effectively provided the bed for LGBTQAI++, requiring all states to effectively salute the flag of Sodom, it finds its hard to support anyone who refuses to do so.
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