Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, and other top state officials are being sued by both Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale counties and Emily McJones, a licensed therapist from Lansing over a controversial law against therapists who do not conform to gender ideology.
Whitmer signed into law last summer two bills that threaten punitive action against mental health professionals who help children with gender dysphoria explore underlying causes of “gender identities” that are inconsistent with their true sex and, perhaps, allow them to move ahead in life without gender “transition.”
Catholic Charities employees and McJones “have had clients as young as 10 to 12 years old who said they were questioning their gender identity” and have helped them “explore why they feel this way,” according to the lawsuit:
By helping clients address underlying trauma and heal from past experiences, Plaintiffs have helped clients change their behavior and gender expression in ways that better align with the clients’ own unique goals for their lives—including by accepting and embracing their biological sex.
Michigan’s HB 4616, however, subjects any “mental health professional” who engages in “conversion therapy with a minor” to disciplinary action and licensing sanctions.
HB 4617, meanwhile, defines “conversion therapy” as
any practice or treatment by a mental health professional that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including, but not limited to, efforts to change behavior or gender expression or to reduce or eliminate sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward an individual of the same gender.
HB 4617 makes clear, nevertheless, that “conversion therapy” does not include any counseling that is supportive of so-called “gender-affirming care,” i.e., “counseling that provides assistance to an individual undergoing a gender transition, counseling that provides acceptance, support, or understanding of an individual or facilitates an individual’s coping, social support, or identity exploration and development.”
The language of the bill especially highlights that counseling is acceptable “as long as the counseling does not seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The plaintiffs argue the legislation is an attempt to control the free speech and due process rights of counselors, the free exercise of religion, and the “right of parents to direct the religious upbringing of their children.”
The lawsuit states:
Worse, HB 4616 harms vulnerable children by depriving them of the compassionate counseling they so desperately need. Instead of allowing counselors to help children explore the underlying factors that may be contributing to their distress, and to help them accept and embrace their biological sex, HB 4616 forces counselors to “affirm” children in the belief that they were born in the wrong body and help them undergo permanent, life-altering medical procedures that many will come to regret. This not only contradicts a mounting body of scientific evidence that supports a more cautious approach; it also violates the Constitution.
The complaint further observes that “[e]ven if Plaintiffs’ clients are satisfied with their counseling, Michigan’s law permits third parties to submit complaints about Plaintiffs to state authorities.”
“Thus, Plaintiffs can face enforcement of HB 4616 based on complaints filed by ideological opponents or activists who find out about their approach to counseling,” the suit argues.
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, said in the case summary:
Rather than allowing children to work through the root causes of their challenges, the law requires counselors to affirm children in their belief that they were born on the wrong bodies and to “provide[] assistance to [a child] undergoing a gender transition”—which often includes puberty blocking drugs, cross sex hormones, and surgeries that cause irreversible harm. As a result, counselors like Emily, who believe they have an ethical and religious duty not to rush children into harmful, life-altering medical procedures, face the prospect of losing their licenses and fines of up to $250,000. The law thus deprives children and families of the compassionate counseling they desperately need.
Whitmer, considered to be a possible replacement for Joe Biden as the Democrat nominee for president, has nevertheless signed legislation that is backed up with language that has already been found to be without merit.
Others on the political left have recently disavowed experimental gender medical intervention for children due to safety concerns.
In the UK, new Labour Party Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to permanently safeguard children and teens from puberty blockers “via any means, subject to the outcome of a legal hearing,” The Telegraph reported Friday, noting Streeting said he would “always put the safety of children first.”
“Our approach will continue to be informed by Dr Cass’s review, which found there was insufficient evidence to show puberty blockers were safe for under-18s,” the Health Secretary said. “This ban brings the private sector in line with the NHS [National Health Service]. We are committed to providing young people with the evidence-led care that they deserve.”
“Children’s healthcare must always be led by evidence,” Streeting posted in an X thread on Sunday. “Medicine given to children must always be proven safe and effective first.”
Streeting’s statement is significant in that it demonstrates the concerns of people across the political spectrum for children who are endangered by experimental and life-altering gender drugs and procedures – the long-term consequences of which they are unable to comprehend at their stage of cognitive development.
Harry Potter authoress and gender ideology critic J.K. Rowling posted to X on Friday about Streeting’s plan “to make the temporary ban on puberty blockers permanent” and the reactions from “the usual” transgender activists.
“This has made the usual suspects very angry,” Rowling wrote. “Streeting, they say, will have ‘blood on his hands.’ He will ‘kill trans kids.’”
The Labour Health Secretary is in agreement with the previous more conservative Tory government that passed emergency legislation protecting young people from puberty blockers supplied by either private and off-shore clinics or the NHS.
Both Streeting and his Tory predecessor Victoria Atkins have noted they use as their compass the recent blockbuster report by British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass, who concluded the so-called “gender-affirming care” model of medical intervention for young people is based on “remarkably weak evidence.”
“[G]iven that the vast majority of young people started on puberty blockers proceed from puberty blockers to masculinising/feminising hormones, there is no evidence that puberty blockers buy time to think, and some concern that they may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development,” the report stated.
“The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress,” Cass wrote, highlighting that puberty blockers were found in “multiple studies” she reviewed to compromise bone density and fertility and to lead to other harmful effects.
Indeed, in May, as CatholicVote reported, Cass – the former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health – told the New York Times that U.S. medical organizations which continue “doubling down” on subjecting children to “life-altering treatments” are caving to political pressure and ultimately “misleading the public” as a result.
