Office of the Vermont Attorney General

06/03/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/04/2025 08:45

Attorney General Clark Joins Multistate Fight to Protect Youth from Conversion 'Therapy'

Attorney General Charity Clark today 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 amicus brief filed by the 19 states and the District of Columbia supports Michigan's ban on 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.

Vermontis 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.

Joining Attorney General Clark in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.

CONTACT: Amelia Vath, Outreach and Communications Coordinator, 802-828-3171

Office of the Vermont Attorney General published this content on June 03, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on June 04, 2025 at 14:45 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at support@pubt.io