Appeals Court Considers Briefs On Conversion Therapy Ordinance

TAMPA, FL – The Liberty Counsel filed a brief Monday in the Florida Circuit Court of Appeals responding to the City of Tampa’s appeal of a federal judge's ruling last fall that invalidated the city's ordinance that prohibits licensed counselors from providing voluntary talk therapy to minors regarding their sexual identities.

In 2017, the Tampa City Council unanimously passed an ordinance against the use of so-called conversion therapy on minor children to reduce or eliminate their attraction to the same sex.

Government jurisdictions around the country have passed similar bans on the therapy after opponents argued that this type of therapy is harmful to a child's psychlogical well-being and has led to minors to commiting suicide.

In September, the conservative evangelical group, the Liberty Counsel, challenged the City of Tampa's ban, filing a motion for summary judgment asking the federal court to permanently block the Tampa ordinance.

The Liberty Counsel represents Tampa marriage and family therapist Robert Vazzo and the Christian ministry, New Hearts Outreach Tampa Bay.

See related stories:

• Liberty Counsel Challenges Tampa's Conversion Therapy Ban
• Federal Judge Strikes Down Tampa's Conversion Therapy Ban

The Liberty Counsel argued that the ban violates the rights of parents to choose the mental health care that they deem best for their child.

Judge William F. Jung of the Tampa Division of the U.S. District Court agreed. He issued an order granting the summary judgment to Liberty Counsel and striking down Tampa's ban on this type of therapy.

In his ruling, Jung said local governments do not have authority to regulate counseling because it is the prerogative of the state and the ban could interfere with a patient’s right to privacy and a parent’s right to choose health care for their children under Florida law.

“Nothing is more intimate, more private and more sensitive than a growing young man or woman talking to a mental health therapist about sex, gender, preferences and conflicting feelings," Jung said. "The ordinance inserts the city’s code enforcers into the middle of this sensitive, intense and private moment. The Florida Constitution’s privacy amendment suggests that government should stay out of the therapy room."

In November, the city appealed Jung's ruling, placing the matter in the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Liberty Counsel’s founder and chairman, Mat Staver, said he's confident the court of appeals will "uphold Judge Jung's well-reasoned decision that the We are confident the court of appeals will uphold Judge Jung’s well-reasoned decision that the city has no business intruding in counseling sessions between families and licensed professionals."

In the meantime, the Liberty Counsel is also challenging two other ordinances regulating mental health counseling for a child's sexual orientation in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County.

On Feb. 11, the Liberty Counsel presented oral arguments before a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals regarding Boca Raton's City Ordinance 5407 and Palm Beach County's County Ordinance 2017-046.

Representing licensed marriage and family therapist Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton, the Liberty Council argued that, under these ordinances, a counselor can encourage a minor client to take hormones or undergo sex reassignment surgery, but cannot talk to a minor client about seeking to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions or behaviors.

"These licensed therapists provide life-saving counseling to minors who desperately desire to conform their attractions, behaviors and gender identities to their sincerely held religious beliefs," said Staver.

Decisions in both cases are pending.