LEGAL
Mormons Oppose Utah Conversion Therapy Ban
State moves to prohibit the practice among minors after legislative effort fails
BY MATT TRACY
Citing concerns about religious
liberty, the Mormon
Church announced
its opposition to a Utah
Department of Commerce proposal
ban the practice on minors.
“The Church is concerned that
the proposed professional licensing
rule is ambiguous in key areas
and overreaches in others,” the
Mormon Church announced in a
written statement on October 15.
“For example, it fails to protect individual
religious beliefs and does
not account for important realities
of gender identity in the development
of children.”
The Church’s explicit rejection of
the proposal comes just months after
it did not oppose a bill in Utah’s
State Legislature that would have
banned conversion therapy.
That bill did not pass, but Governor
Gary Herbert, a Republican,
asked the Department of Commerce
and the Division of Occupational
and Professional Licensing
to propose a rule change implementing
the ban.
In the proposal, the Utah Psychologist
Licensing Board called
conversion therapy on minors “unprofessional,”
stating that “it is our
conclusion that practices intended
to change sexual orientation or
gender identity are not demonstrated
to be effective, and are associated
with harm and the risk of
harm...”
The Mormon Church explained
its opposition to the proposal by
citing concerns raised by its family
services division, which delivered
a letter to the Utah Department of
Commerce saying the rule “fails to
account for important realities of
gender identity development in children;
it would undermine the right
of clients to self-determination and
the right of parents to guide the development
of their children; and it
ignores the important and ethically
appropriate role of faith-based
perspectives in counseling.”
The Church nonetheless indicated
a willingness to support the
rule change if it is “appropriately
amended to address the concerns
raised” in the comments “or that
Utah’s lawmakers provide statutory
guidance on this important
issue.”
Equality Utah, which works to
advance LGBTQ rights in the state,
criticized the Mormon Church’s
position.
“The only way to protect LGBTQ
youth from conversion therapy is
to stop conversion therapy in all of
its forms,” Equality Utah’s executive
director, Troy Williams, said in
a written statement. “The simple
truth is that young people subjected
to this faux practice are at
greater risk of suicide.”
Youth suicide has gripped Utah,
which boasts the largest population
of Mormons in the nation.
The state saw a 141 percent rise in
suicides from 2011 to 2015 among
youth between the ages of 10 and
17. Nevada, another state with a
signifi cant Mormon population,
saw 27 youth suicides in 2018.
Brian Bresee, a Las Vegas man
whose 14-year-old son died from
suicide in 2014, attributed his
son’s death to the anti-LGBTQ
culture and teachings of the Mormon
Church. He stressed that
many people feel as if they become
trapped in the Church’s culture.
“When you fi nd out that who
you are is not in line with Church
teachings, you can’t just get up and
leave and fi nd another Church,” he
said during an interview with Gay
City News in August.
Those alarming numbers have
brought a heightened sense of urgency
to the issue in Utah, especially
in light of the damaging effects of
conversion therapy. Equality Utah
has framed the new proposal as a
matter of life and death.
“Governor Herbert has repeatedly
stated that science must prevail
over politics,” Williams said. “We
concur with that assessment and
will do everything in our power to
protect our youth from this lifethreatening
practice.”
The new proposal is slated to go
into effect on October 22.
A spokesperson for Affi rmation,
an LGBTQ group for Mormons, did
not respond to requests for comment.
Tampa Conversion Therapy Ban Nixed
Federal judge fi nds city usurped state’s authority, lacked needed expertise
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
A federal district judge
has ruled that the state
of Florida’s overriding
authority in regulating
professional health care deprives
the city of Tampa from imposing
municipal sanctions on licensed
healthcare workers who perform
so-called “conversion therapy” on
minors.
Judge William F. Jung’s October
4 ruling was a startling departure
from the way most courts have
responded to challenges against
laws cracking down on the charlatans
who engage in this discredited
practice. Several federal courts,
including some courts of appeals,
have rejected challenges based
on the First and the 14th Amendments,
but those cases mainly
involved state laws. The challengers
in the Tampa case made those
same constitutional arguments,
but Jung resolved the case on a
state law basis.
Tampa passed its conversion
therapy ban in April 2017, citing
numerous professional studies discrediting
the practice and contending
it is harmful to minors. The ordinance
also cites decisions by the
Third and Ninth Circuit Courts of
Appeals upholding similar statutes
in New Jersey and California,
respectively. A state court in New
Jersey, separately, condemned the
practice under its consumer fraud
law.
Stating its intention to protect
minors from being subjected to a
potentially harmful practice, the
Tampa City Council premised the
ordinance on its authority to exercise
police power for the public
safety, health, and welfare.
Plaintiff Robert L. Vazzo, a marriage
and family therapist licensed
in Florida, practices conversion
therapy on minors, claiming his
treatment may help “reduce or
eliminate same-sex sexual attractions,
behaviors or identity,” and
claiming it is carried out entirely
with speech techniques and no
coercive physical treatments. He
also claimed his clients give their
informed consent, though under
the law minors are recognized as
having only limited capacity to
give such consent. Typically, it is
parents wanting to “cure” their
children of being gay or transgender
who give consent on their children’s
behalf.
Co-plaintiff David Pickup was
the lead plaintiff in a case challenging
California’s conversion
therapy ban and claims here that
he intended to get Florida certifi cation
and treat patients in Tampa.
The other plaintiff, Soli Deo Gloria
International, Inc., is an organization
that refers individuals, including
minors, for conversion therapy.
Judge Jung invoked a doctrine
called “implied preemption.” In
situations where the state government
pervasively regulates a particular
activity, it may be found to
➤ TAMPA, continued on p.13
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