(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
KENOSHA, Wis. — A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a Colorado conversion therapy ban is likely to place the City of Kenosha’s own ordinance banning the practice on shaky constitutional ground.
On Tuesday, the nation’s highest court ruled 8-1 that Colorado’s law banning licensed therapists from providing conversion therapy to minors violated the First Amendment because it restricted speech based on viewpoint. The ruling could have sweeping implications for dozens of state and local laws around the country, including Kenosha’s own ordinance prohibiting paid conversion therapy services for minors.
Kenosha’s ordinance was approved by the Common Council on Oct. 5, 2020, by a 14-1 vote. Alderman David Paff was the lone dissenting vote.
The ordinance was principally sponsored by Alderman Anthony Kennedy. Its original co-sponsors were Aldermen Jan Michalski and Holly Kangas. During the Oct. 5, 2020 meeting, Alderman Rollin Pizzala asked to be added as a co-sponsor, and Kennedy approved the request before the ordinance ultimately passed.
At the time, current Mayor David Bogdala was serving as acting mayor during the meeting in his role as council president and presided over the vote. Bogdala approved the ordinance despite being a Republican. Around that same time, he had already begun preparing a mayoral run and increasingly aligned himself with the Democratic majority on the council.
The ordinance, codified as Section 11.089 of the city code, prohibits any person from providing or assisting in conversion therapy to minors if they are paid for the service. Violators can be fined between $100 and $1,000 for each day of violation and could face up to 90 days in jail if they fail to pay the forfeiture.
The ordinance defines conversion therapy broadly as any practice intended to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, while exempting counseling that supports gender transitions or identity exploration.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected to provide new ammunition to critics of such laws, who argue they regulate speech rather than conduct. The Court found that the government cannot prohibit certain forms of counseling or therapy simply because it disagrees with the viewpoint being expressed.
For years, lower courts had largely upheld conversion therapy bans by treating therapy as professional conduct rather than speech. But the Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday appears to reject that reasoning and instead treats therapy conversations as protected speech under the Constitution.
Legal experts expect municipalities and states with similar bans to either repeal them, stop enforcing them, or attempt to rewrite them in a way that focuses more on fraud, coercion, abuse, or licensing violations rather than restricting specific viewpoints.
Kenosha County Eye reached out Tuesday to all current aldermen and Mayor David Bogdala to ask whether they believe the city’s ordinance should be repealed in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. Their responses will be added if and when they are received.
14 Responses
Hey PSYCHOPATHS ……….. there’s something called the First Amendment ..
I think you should look up the definition of psychopath 😏
…… it’s close enough.
God’s in control at the end of the day. And he’s probably tired of us all arguing about everything online
It’s verbal discussion..not physical mutilation. The supremes said it must allow discussion for and against the decision to embrace other than your birth sex…not only in opposition
Discussion. Reasoning…
Buy let’s keep teachers and unions put of the mix
I don’t know why we voted a 450lb penguin into an alderman position… This guy is a joke
People of Kenosha must like him. No one goes for his seat
You don’t know s***, at least one person recently ran against him, and she lost. Wasn’t suitable to his demographic, I guess.
The election’s are Selections. Sh*t’s rigged.
Nah, it’s just that no one wants that shit job with no pay and to be a puppet
Advice is words spoken to one person from another.
No different than if you went to a friend’s home for a weekend BBQ and sat around talking about investing.
The person listening doesn’t have to do what the therapist tells them to do. If any human being is deciding to be something other than what they already are then there is really nothing you can do to change that. This therapist “speech” does not have to be responded to.
The monkey in this wrench is that minors, aka children are there because their parents brought them there. Doesn’t mean the child has to respond to what the therapist is saying.
Since when do children listen to their parents anyway ?
This is totally free speech.
Imagine being sooooo brain-challenged that you would agree with THE dumbest and most incompetent Supreme Court Justice in US history, Ketanji Brown Jackson. You’re talking about an IQ of about 20. Not a surprise that only liberals/democrats/progressives are in the very, very, very small group which of course, includes most union public schools teachers, counselors and school board members.
Now now now. I’m willing to bet in all fairness Ketanji Brown Jackson has an IQ of at least room temperature.
No one likes tran nys anyways