The Supreme Court rejects an appeal over the ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case on whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.

Because of the dissent from three conservative justices, the court rejected an appeal from Washington, where the law was upheld. An appeals panel struck down local bans in Florida as unconstitutional restrictions on consultants' speech.

The Supreme Court often steps in when appellate courts disagree, and in separate opinions, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said the standard could easily be met in the conversion therapy ban controversy.

Thomas wrote that his colleague should have taken up the Washington case because “licensed counselors cannot express anything other than state-approved opinions about minors with gender dysphoria without being punished.”

Judge Brett Kavanaugh also voted to hear the case. Four of the nine justices are needed to make arguments.

The court's decision to avoid the case from Washington comes as efforts to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ children have spread across the country.

About half of states ban the practice of changing a person's sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling.

A Washington family counselor, Brian Tingley, has filed a lawsuit over a 2018 state law that threatens therapists who practice conversion therapy with loss of their licenses. Tingley claims the law violates his right to speech. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this in a split decision.

The Supreme Court had previously rejected several challenges to state bans, but those cases reached the court before a 5-4 decision in 2018 in which the justices ruled that California could not force state-licensed anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion.

Since the 2018 ruling, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has invalidated local bans in Florida.