The Turning Tide of Therapy Bans: Dr Christopher Rosik
from Core Issues Trust:
My Favorite Arguments from the Otto et al. v. Boca Raton, FL, et al,Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Decision by Christopher Rosik, Ph.D.
November 20, 2020, may go down as the day the tide began to turn against government bans on therapies that allow clients with unwanted same-sex attractions to pursue change. In a stunningly rational decision, a majority of the three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that speech in the therapists’ office potentially facilitating change is in fact speech and not professional conduct and hence is protected by the first amendment. They also found that the ban ordinances are content- and viewpoint-based restrictions on speech. The panel’s majority thus determined that the ban on professional speech in therapy has to be subject to “strict scrutiny” (the most stringent test for constitutionality) and, under that standard, would surely fail the test. The effect of this ruling was to overturn the district court’s decision banning licensed therapists Drs. Robert Otto and Alliance Past-President Julie Hamilton from engaging in change oriented speech in their psychotherapy.
There is so much good reasoning in the majority’s decision that I would recommend it be read in its entirety by those who are familiar with the history of these therapy bans. The Court’s full decision can be found here: https://lc.org/PDFs/Attachments2PRsLAs/112020Otto.pdf. For those who would prefer to save time by reading highlights from the decision, I offer below a listing of my favorite reasoning from the Eleventh Circuit’s majority ruling. I do so on the basis of my long history of following the minutia of the legislative and judicial proceedings related to therapy bans. I order my favorite arguments starting with some honorable mentions and concluding with my top three finishers.
Honorable mentions
There were many good points the majority made concerning speech as pertains to the municipal governments’ therapy bans. They all deserve at least an honorable mention, in no particular order of merit.
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