Christian Counselors Sue Wisconsin over Conversion Therapy Ban on First Amendment Grounds

Two Christian counselors in Wisconsin have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a state rule that restricts so-called conversion therapy, claiming it violates their First Amendment rights.

Counselors Terri Koschnick and Joy Buchman, represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, sued Gov. Tony Evers' administration. They seek to overturn a regulation that labels it unprofessional conduct for licensed counselors, social workers or marriage and family therapists to use or promote interventions aimed at changing a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The lawsuit contends the Wisconsin rule is materially identical to a Colorado law at issue in the recent U.S. Supreme Court case Chiles v. Salazar. In an 8-1 decision, the court ruled that Colorado's law, as applied to talk therapy, regulated speech based on viewpoint and warranted stricter scrutiny. The majority noted the law permitted counselors to affirm a minor client's sexual orientation or gender identity but prohibited counseling to help clients change those feelings or identity.

Koschnick, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and Buchman, a licensed professional counselor, offer faith-based talk therapy to clients who voluntarily seek it in line with their religious beliefs. The suit argues the rule infringes on their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by regulating their speech and penalizing their religious views. It also calls the rule vague and unenforceable.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty asked the court to declare the rule unconstitutional and bar state officials from enforcing it.

WILL deputy counsel Rebecca Furdek said the Evers administration ignored notifications about viewpoint discrimination after the Supreme Court ruling. "Wisconsin’s rule is materially indistinguishable from Colorado’s statute held to be viewpoint discrimination by SCOTUS," Furdek said in a statement. "When we notified the Evers administration of this fact, we were met with a blatant refusal to follow the Supreme Court holding, along with inflammatory, baseless rhetoric accusing WILL of ‘bullying’ children and Wisconsinites. However, Wisconsin counselors have every right to provide Christ-centered talk therapy to the clients who seek them out for that type of counseling."

In a May 5 letter responding to WILL and Wisconsin Family Action, Evers stated his administration had no intention of repealing the conversion therapy ban. He called the groups' demand a significant misreading of the Supreme Court ruling and described the practice as at best ineffective and at worst dangerous, according to the Wisconsin Examiner.

At the time of the Chiles ruling, about two dozen states and Washington, D.C., had similar laws in place.

Evers' office did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.