Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-24-2021
Abstract
In the United States, gay conversion therapy (GCT) has not been banned nationally, although twenty states have issued laws banning therapists from practicing it. While the Supreme Court has refused to hear several cases involving challenges to laws banning GCT, recently the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found a local law banning the practice as an unconstitutional regulation on the First Amendment right of speech. This ruling disappointingly confuses ideas of First Amendment protections with what amounts to psychological torture of our youth. It must be noted that while bans on GCT have been successfully upheld as constitutional in other regions, the laws only ban the practice for licensed therapists, not for clergy or any other religiously affiliated organization who wish to use the practice on the youth. This distinction will be discussed later.
Recommended Citation
Bass, Eric Cody, "PRAY THE GAY AWAY: CONVERSION THERAPY, SUICIDE, RELIGION, AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT" (2021). Golden Gate University Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Law Journal. 9.
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/rgssj-law-journal/9
Included in
Gender and Sexuality Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Justice Commons, Social Welfare Law Commons
Comments
This article is also available online at:
https://ggusocialjusticelj.org/2021/08/24/pray-the-gay-away-conversion-therapy-suicide-religion-and-the-first-amendment/