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Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments over conversion therapy ban

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MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday heard a case that could settle years of disputes between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration and Republican lawmakers over whether to allow a discredited practice known as conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy, which has already been banned in 20 states, is a practice in which therapists, counselors, or social workers attempt to change the gender and sexual orientation of their LGBTQ patients to align with heterosexual norms.

Madison, Wisconsin
FILE - A man walks by the Wisconsin Capitol, Oct. 10, 2012, in Madison, Wis. Eagerly awaited redistricting reports that will recommend new maps that are expected to reshape the balance of power in the Wisconsin Legislature are due to the state Supreme Court on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)

In two consecutive legislative sessions, Republicans who control the Legislature’s rules committee voted to temporarily lift a ban on conversion therapy in Wisconsin. As a result, the practice has been allowed in the state for most of the last four years, despite a rule added to the state code of conduct for therapists and social workers in 2020 prohibiting the practice.

Watch: Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments over conversion therapy ban

Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments over conversion therapy ban

“They were going to keep suspending it and suspending it, and their intention was to never let the rule go into effect,” said Marc Herstand, executive director of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Herstand helped create the ban on conversion therapy in 2020 and has since lobbied against GOP efforts to suspend it. His organization submitted a legal brief in the case decrying the practice and citing research that demonstrates its harms.

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People hold rainbow flags, a symbol of gay pride.

“It has terrible emotional impacts. It is a fake therapy,” Herstand said. “It’s been condemned by every mental health and medical profession in the United States.”

Republicans on the rules committee have stopped short of saying they oppose the policy but cited concerns about a state agency limiting therapists’ freedom of religion and speech.

Conservative justices signaled their agreement with those concerns.

“Nowhere do I see that the people ever consented to being governed by an administrative state instead of their elected representatives,” conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler said.

Evers argues that lawmakers can’t repeatedly hold up the rule – essentially vetoing it – without passing a bill on the topic. Republicans who control the Legislature don’t want to take that route because Evers will almost certainly veto any bill they pass.

tony evers
FILE - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a joint session of the Legislature in the Assembly chambers during the governor's State of the State speech at the state Capitol onn Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Madison, Wis. A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court has adopted "least change" legislative and congressional redistricting maps submitted by Democratic Gov. Evers, a plan that keeps Republican majorities in place by making few deviations to current districts. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

Liberal justices, who hold a majority on the Supreme Court, emphasized their opposition to conversion therapy during Thursday’s proceedings and backed Evers’ argument that lawmakers’ actions violated the Wisconsin Constitution.

“Less than a handful of unchecked legislators can check a rule like this for eternity. Four people can shelve a rule that stops therapists from subjecting children to horrors,” liberal Justice Jill Karofsky said. “I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that.”

Justices are expected to issue a decision in the case in the coming months, and their ruling could also affect other state agency rules that have been suspended by lawmakers.


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