{"id":49146,"date":"2025-07-08T16:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T16:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49146\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T16:37:12","slug":"wisconsin-court-clears-way-for-conversion-therapy-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49146\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin court clears way for conversion therapy ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADISON, Wis. (AP) \u2014 The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for the state to institute a ban on conversion therapy<\/a> in a ruling that gives the governor more power over how state laws are enacted.<\/p>\n

The court ruled that a Republican-controlled legislative committee\u2019s rejection of a state agency rule that would ban the practice<\/a> of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people was unconstitutional. The decision, which has a broad impact far beyond the conversion therapy issue, takes power away from the Legislature to block the enactment of rules by the governor\u2019s office that carry the force of law.<\/p>\n

The 4-3 ruling from the liberal-controlled court comes amid the national battle<\/a> over LGBTQ+ rights. It is also part of a broader effort by the Democratic governor to rein in the power of the GOP-controlled Legislature.<\/p>\n

What is conversion therapy?<\/p>\n

What is known as conversion therapy is the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to \u201cconvert\u201d LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations. <\/p>\n

The practice has been banned in 23 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank. It is also banned in more than a dozen communities across Wisconsin. <\/p>\n

Advocates seeking to ban the practice want to forbid mental health professionals in the state from counseling clients with the goal of changing their sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> agreed in March to hear a Colorado case about whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.<\/p>\n

What is happening in Wisconsin?<\/p>\n

Since April 2024, the Wisconsin professional licensing board for therapists, counselors and social workers has labeled conversion therapy as unprofessional conduct.<\/p>\n

But the Legislature\u2019s powerful Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules \u2014 a Republican-controlled panel in charge of approving state agency regulations \u2014 has blocked the provision<\/a> twice.<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the committee has been overreaching its authority in blocking a variety of other state regulations during Democratic Gov. Tony Evers\u2019 administration. That clears the way for the conversion therapy ban to be enacted.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Supreme Court as shown on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Madison, Wis., cleared the way for a state ban on conversion therapy to be enacted with a ruling that broadens the governor\u2019s powers over administrative rules. (AP Photo\/Scott Bauer)<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Supreme Court as shown on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Madison, Wis., cleared the way for a state ban on conversion therapy to be enacted with a ruling that broadens the governor\u2019s powers over administrative rules. (AP Photo\/Scott Bauer)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Republicans who supported suspending the conversion therapy ban have insisted the issue isn\u2019t the policy itself, but whether the licensing board had the authority to take the action it did.<\/p>\n

Evers has been trying since 2020 to get the ban enacted, but the Legislature has stopped it from going into effect.<\/p>\n

Evers called the ruling \u201cincredibly important\u201d and said it will stop a small number of lawmakers from \u201cholding rules hostage without explanation or action and causing gridlock across state government.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Republican Sen. Steve Nass, co-chair of the legislative committee in question, said the ruling gives Evers \u201cunchecked dominion to issue edicts without legislative review that will harm the rights of citizens.\u201d <\/p>\n

Legislative power weakened by ruling<\/p>\n

The Legislature\u2019s attorney argued that decades of precedent backed up their argument, including a 1992 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling upholding the Legislature\u2019s right to suspend state agency rules. <\/p>\n

Evers argued that by blocking the rule, the legislative committee is taking over powers that the state constitution assigns to the governor and exercising an unconstitutional \u201clegislative veto.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Supreme Court agreed.<\/p>\n

The court found that the Legislature was violating the state constitution\u2019s requirement that any laws pass both houses of the Legislature and be presented to the governor.<\/p>\n

The Legislature was illegally taking \u201caction that alters the legal rights and duties of the executive branch and the people of Wisconsin,\u201d Chief Justice Jill Karofsky wrote for the majority. She was joined by the court\u2019s three other liberal justices.<\/p>\n

Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn, in a dissent, said the court\u2019s ruling is \u201cdevoid of legal analysis and raises more questions than it answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hagedorn argued for a more narrow ruling that would have only declared unconstitutional the legislative committee\u2019s indefinite objection to a building code rule.<\/p>\n

Fellow conservative justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley also dissented, saying the ruling shifts too much power to the executive branch and holds the Legislature to a higher legal standard. <\/p>\n

Bradley said the ruling \u201clets the executive branch exercise lawmaking power unfettered and unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue goes beyond conversion therapy<\/p>\n

The conversion therapy ban is one of several rules that have been blocked by the legislative committee. Others pertain to environmental regulations, vaccine requirements and public health protections.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups hailed the ruling.<\/p>\n

The decision will prevent a small number of lawmakers from blocking the enactment of environmental protections passed by the Legislature and signed into law, said Wilkin Gibart, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates.<\/p>\n

The court previously sided with Evers<\/a> in one issue brought in the lawsuit, ruling 6-1 last year that another legislative committee was illegally preventing the state Department of Natural Resources from funding grants to local governments and nongovernmental organizations for environmental projects under the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADISON, Wis. (AP) \u2014 The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for the state to institute a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[37378,356,168,25742,57,328,210,27928,5603,15170,50,80,1739,14833,37379,14830,61,322,67,132,68,14831,1398],"class_list":{"0":"post-49146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-brian-hagedorn","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-domestic-news","12":"tag-gender","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-government-regulations","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-jill-karofsky","17":"tag-lgbtq","18":"tag-liberalism","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-psychotherapy","22":"tag-rebecca-bradley","23":"tag-steve-nass","24":"tag-tony-evers","25":"tag-u-s-news","26":"tag-u-s-republican-party","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-wi-state-wire","31":"tag-wisconsin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114818596472908822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}