Biden judge rules Michigan can ban Catholic counselors from helping gender-confused minors
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration can silence Catholic Charities and other religious counselors who dissuade minors from embracing homosexuality and transgenderism, a Biden-appointed federal judge ruled recently.
Governor Gretchen
Whitmer (D-MI) speaks at a rally in the KI convention center with Democratic
Vice President nominee Tim Walz, and Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) on October 14,
2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.Getty Images
Fri Feb 7, 2025 - 2:00 pm EST
(LifeSiteNews) — Michigan can shut down Catholics and Protestants who help counsel minors suffering from gender confusion or a homosexual inclination, a federal judge ruled recently.
District Court Judge Jane Beckering, a Biden appointee, ruled in favor of the state’s law against “conversion therapy.” The law effectively silences counselors who want to assist minors with gender dysphoria or homosexual inclinations. The misnamed “conversion therapy” actually helps individuals live in accord with moral truth.
In contrast, counselors are allowed to encourage minors to cross-dress, change their pronouns, engage in homosexual activity, or get permanently sterilizing drugs or surgeries. The law effectively silences counselors who are assisting minors to live a chaste and ordered lifestyle while specifically protecting those who encourage gender confusion and disordered choices.
The 2023 law states:
Conversion therapy does not include 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, including sexual orientation-neutral intervention to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, as long as the counseling does not seek to change an individual’s [purported] sexual orientation or gender identity.
Specifically, Judge Beckering dismissed a request for a preliminary injunction against the state, brought on behalf of local Catholic Charities and Emily McJones, a “devout Catholic” who operates a practice called “Little Flower Counseling,” according to the ruling.
The law only is directed at “state-regulated mental health professionals,” according to the judge, and not “family members, religious leaders, community members, or unlicensed mental health professionals,” according to the ruling.
Judge Becker ruled against the preliminary injunction on the grounds that there has not been enforcement against the plaintiffs yet.
The law is a number of actions Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer took to push the LGBT agenda, according to a news release when she signed the bill in 2023. She called “conversion therapy” a “horrific practice.”
The Becket Fund, which is representing the clients, plans to appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Its brief is due by mid-March and then Michigan will have at least another month to appeal, according to the federal court database.
The religious liberty group explains the importance of the case further on its website:
Haut du formulaire
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY HEADLINES
US Canada Catholic
Bas du formulaire
[Catholic Charities and McJones] argue that the state’s law blocks them from counseling in a way that is consistent with the best available scientific evidence and violates the constitutional protections for freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, and parental rights.
They also argue that the laws will have real consequences for youth struggling with their biological sex—kids who already suffer from high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. The counselors are asking the court to protect their freedom to offer cautious, compassionate therapy to help these children. They do not want to deny children the counseling services they need to live whole, integrated lives.
Michigan officials have previously targeted Catholic Charities and by extension, other religious entities, for seeking to practice their beliefs.
In 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services in the state settled with Catholic Charities West Michigan after punishing it for prioritizing heterosexual married couples for foster child placement, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.
TOPICS
TAGGED AS
- Abortion
- Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
- Catholic
- Catholic Charities
- conversion thereapy
- Emily McJones
- Freedom
- Gender
- Gender Confusion
- Homosexuality
- Jane Beckering
- Lgbt
- LGBT lifestyle
- Michigan
- Religious Freedom
- Religious Liberty
- Transgender
