Cert Denied for CA Gay-Conversion Therapy Ban

WASHINGTON (CN) - California may follow through with plans to ban gay-conversion therapy after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to look at the law.

California's SB 1172, which the 9th Circuit upheld in August, prohibits state-licensed psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors from using sexual-orientation change therapy on patients younger than 18.

After the full court refused to hold an en banc rehearing of the case, the challengers requested a stay of the mandate so that they could petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.

The appellate panel granted a stay in February, but the Supreme Court on Monday rejected two petitions for a writ of certiorari.

The petitions had been submitted by the parties whose cases were consolidated for the decision that the 9th Circuit reached last year.

In Pickup v. Brown a federal judge in Sacramento found that the therapy did not qualify as protected speech, but a different judge granted a preliminary injunction in Welch v. Brown. Equality California intervened on behalf of California.

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