➤ CONVERSION THERAPY, from p.20
“attempts to change sexual orientation
may cause or exacerbate
distress and poor mental health
in some individuals, including depression
and suicidal thoughts.” It
also “catalogued recent studies reporting
that patients who undergo
SOCE experience negative consequences
including ‘anger, anxiety,
confusion, depression, grief, guilt,
hopelessness, deteriorated relationships
with family, loss of social
support, loss of faith, poor self-image,
social isolation, intimacy diffi -
culties, intrusive imagery, suicidal
ideation, self-hatred, and sexual
dysfunction.’”
She was particularly critical of
Grant’s heavy reliance on the APA
report’s comment about the lack
of “rigorous recent prospective research”
on SOCE, pointing out that
rigorous research would require an
unethical methodology.
“The APA has cautioned that ‘to
conduct a random controlled trial
of a treatment that has not been
determined to be safe is not ethically
permissible and to do such
research with vulnerable minors
who cannot themselves provide
legal consent would be out of the
question for institutional review
boards to approve,’” Martin wrote.
“One implication of the majority
holding is that because SOCE is
too dangerous to study, children
can continue to be subjected to it.”
She also criticized the majority’s
focus on comments selectively
quoted from one APA report, and
discounting that “SOCE is a practice
that has already been deemed
by institutions of science, research
and practice” — listing nine of
them — “to pose real risks of harm
on children.”
The Boca Raton and Palm
Beach County governments now
face a strategic decision. The luck
of the draw exposed them to a
panel whose majority were Trump
appointees. Since this opinion is
out of step with rulings by other
federal courts of appeals, it is possible
the 11th Circuit would grant
a motion for reconsideration by the
full circuit bench. However, the six
Trump appointees make up half
of the 11th Circuit bench, and the
chances that the full circuit would
overturn this ruling seem slim.
The defendants could also directly
petition the Supreme Court
for review, but that could be tempting
fate given Trump’s success in
shifting that bench to the right as
well. This is the fi rst federal court
of appeals to part company from
the many cases rejecting First
Amendment challenges to such
laws, increasing the likelihood that
it would grant review, which could
produce — in a worst case scenario
— an opinion invalidating all the
existing laws against conversion
therapy nationwide. On the other
hand, a ruling upholding their
constitutionality could encourage
the current campaign to get more
jurisdictions to adopt them.
But given the odds, it may more
prudent for the Florida localities
not to appeal, let the preliminary
injunction go into effect, and concentrate
on putting together a
strengthened evidentiary record
on the harms that SOCE does to
minors to make it more likely they
will prevail on the merits at the
district court.
The 11th Circuit panel received
fi ve amicus briefs, all defending
the challenged laws. Among the organizations
signing the briefs were
the APA, the Florida Psychological
Association, the National Association
of Social Workers, the National
Center for Lesbian Rights, the
Southern Poverty Law Center, the
Equality Florida Institute, and the
Trevor Project.
In the wake of a majority opinion
that relied so heavily on what
it characterized as “equivocal” conclusions
from the APA, that group’s
president, Sandra L. Shullman,
PhD., released a written statement
saying, “Sexual orientation
change therapy is highly unlikely
to change a patient’s sexual orientation
and there is real evidence of
harm, according to a 2009 study
of the peer-reviewed scientifi c literature
conducted by the American
Psychological Association. The
scientifi c research since 2009 has
greatly increased the evidence that
participants in such efforts believe
they were harmful. Although these
results came mostly from studies
of adults, APA shared with the
court our concern about the likely
harmful effects on minors who
cannot legally consent to such procedures.
The presumption behind
these treatments is that any sexual
orientation other than heterosexuality
is inherently fl awed and
must be fi xed.”
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