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BALTIMORE MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a multistate
coalition in an amicus brief defending a Michigan law that prohibits licensed health professionals
from practicing conversion “therapy” on minors. Conversion “therapy,” also called sexual
orientation or gender identity change efforts, are harmful and ineffective practices that attempt to
change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Michigan’s law prohibits licensed health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on
children and youth and is being challenged in a lawsuit now with the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Sixth Circuit. The brief filed by the coalition supports Michigan’s ban on so-called
conversion therapy because:
- It is not a safe or effective treatment for any condition;
- Puts youth at risk of serious harms, including increased risks of suicide and
depression; and
- Falls below the standard of care for mental health practitioners.
“No child should be subjected to practices that increase their risk of suicide, depression, and
lasting psychological harm, or that shame and discourage them for being themselves,” said
Attorney General Brown. “We will continue to fight to protect our most vulnerable young
Marylanders from these dangerous and ineffective treatments that have no place in legitimate
mental healthcare.”
Maryland is one of over 25 states that bans or restricts conversion therapy. The practice is
repudiated by all leading medical and mental professional organizations, including the American
Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric
Association.
The brief outlines why the court should reject the arguments against Michigan’s ban on the
practice:
- The First Amendment does not shield dangerous and ineffective mental health
practices from regulation, nor does it allow licensed providers to operate below a
certain standard of care.
- Such bans are consistent with states’ long history of establishing and regulating
professional standards of care.
- Striking down such a ban would likely create profound unintended consequences
for states’ authority to regulate professional practices within their borders as they
have throughout most of the nation’s history.
In filing the brief, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada,
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Washington, and Wisconsin.
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