Mat Staver presented oral argument yesterday before a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the constitutionality of ordinances in the city of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County which prohibit minors from receiving voluntary counseling from licensed professionals to reduce or eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions or behaviors, or gender confusion. 

Yesterday’s oral argument went well and you can listen to it here. The court should issue its decision in a few months.

Pictured: Liberty Counsel attorneys Harry Mihet, Mat Staver and Roger Gannam. In the center, clients Dr. Julie Hamilton and Dr. Bob Otto.

Liberty Counsel represents Dr. Robert Otto, LMFT and Dr. Julie Hamilton, LMFT and their minor clients. These licensed therapists provide life-saving counseling to minors who desperately desire to conform their attractions, behaviors, and gender identities to their sincerely held religious beliefs. City Ordinance 5407 and County Ordinance 2017-046 now prohibit minors from receiving voluntary counseling from licensed professionals to reduce or eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or gender confusion in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County. 

The laws ban any counsel where the goal is to change. Currently, a counselor can encourage a client to take life-altering hormone drugs or even undergo invasive surgery to remove healthy body parts, but a counselor cannot help a client who seeks to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions, behavior, or confusion.