Doctors and hospitals are destroying children with puberty blockers, hormones, and mutilating surgeries. Lucrative incentives, combined with virulent LGBTQ ideology, has led more than 100 cities and states to ban Christian change counseling.

Liberty Counsel has overturned 23 of those bans, freeing people in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to seek and receive Christian change counseling of their choice. But 87 bans still stand, including in Colorado. Now the U.S. Supreme Court will decide if city, state, or federal officials can ban this specialized form of “talk therapy.” Our two wins at that Court of Appeals teed up this Colorado case for the Supreme Court. Mark my word — these laws banning Christian counseling are going down!

Liberty Counsel is preparing our brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments this fall. Be part of this historic case by joining with your support through our Challenge Grant that will DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT.

For decades, the tiny town of Trinidad, Colorado, became known as the “sex change capital of the world.” A doctor by the name of Stanley Biber had set up a surgical center in the remote mountains lining Colorado’s border with New Mexico. Though the town only averages approximately 8,000 residents, Dr. Biber performed more than 5,000 surgeries, sometimes four per day.

Biber’s work in removing healthy body parts from gender-confused patients became so well known that by the early 2000s, “a trip to Trinidad” became a euphemism for mutilating surgeries.

By 1998, despite having had no formal training in performing surgeries on genital organs, Biber had performed two-thirds of all such surgeries worldwide. The 25-bed hospital he worked at suddenly began raking in a million dollars per year from Biber’s surgeries and nearly tripled its bed capacity to accommodate people from around the world.

Walt Hyer was one of Dr. Stanley Biber’s victims.

The victim of childhood sexual abuse by an uncle, as well as his grandmother’s penchant for secretly clothing young Walt in frilly girls' dresses, left Walt in a state of confusion for much of his adult life. The unresolved childhood traumas bled out into his life in the forms of severe depression, risky behaviors, and alcoholism.

Programs like Dr. Biber’s convinced Walt that he would be happier if he spent his life savings on surgeries that would make him a “woman.” Walt traveled to Trinidad, Colorado, and underwent Dr. Biber’s surgery — only to find that living as a “woman” made his depression, alcoholism, and self-loathing worse.

Walt cried himself to sleep every night. Since his surgery, he felt isolated, deeply depressed, and suicidal. Then one day, Walt happened to meet a Christian counselor, who set him on the true path to freedom — loving his authentic self, in the form God made him.

Today, Walt lives as a man with his wife of 28 years, Kaycee. Walt, whose life was a wreck, has now been restored by the Lord. He now helps others whom the LGBTQ and surgical industry has harmed.

“God has prepared me to speak out at this time for this purpose,” Walt says. “No matter how painful it’s been, I’m serving God in this way.”

The fact of the matter is, Christian change counseling doesn’t just resolve gender confusion and unwanted attractions, it restores lives.

The media and the LGBTQ lobby regularly shout from the rooftops that Christian change counseling is ineffective and “dangerous.” Many cities and states have enacted change counseling bans on those contentions alone. But a review of actual science shows the LGBTQ claims are a LIE.

A 2011 study, “A Longitudinal Study of Attempted Religiously Mediated Sexual Orientation Change,” as published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, concluded that change is possible, and that “psychological distress did not increase on average as a result of the involvement in the change process.”

Another study, this one published in 2018, “Effects of Therapy on Religious Men Who Have Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction,” found that 68% of surveyed men “self-reported some to much reduction in their same-sex attraction and behavior and also an increase in their opposite-sex attraction and behavior.” The study also noted that change counseling “predominantly creates experiences that are beneficial.”

There are a plethora of other studies, far too many to list here, that confirm what these two studies have found — that Christian change counseling is safe and effective and leads to positive outcomes for people plagued by unwanted desires and gender dysphoria.

But the LGBTQ has done an excellent job at burying any scientific studies that tell the truth about change counseling, ensuring that only the LGBTQ viewpoint — and no others — are allowed. Part of this process has been to BAN Christian change counseling.

Liberty Counsel has managed to overturn 23 of these bans, freeing people in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to seek and receive the lifesaving Christian counseling they so desperately desire.

But the Appeals Courts are split. While two Appeals Courts agreed with Liberty Counsel, two other Appeals Courts have upheld Change Counseling bans. Now the U.S. Supreme Court must decide if people will be allowed to seek and receive the Christian change counseling of their choice.

This case has the potential to end change counseling bans once and for all. Laws that restrict only one viewpoint regarding ‘gender identity’ violate the First Amendment. Talk therapy is speech, and the government has no authority to restrict that speech to just one viewpoint. All counseling bans nationwide must be struck down so that people can get the counseling they need. Counselors and clients should have the freedom to choose the counsel of their choice and be free of government censorship.

We need your help to fight for the people stuck in states that have banned their ability to seek and receive freedom from the LGBTQ’s gender dysphoria prison.

YOU can help us win with a generous single donation or a recurring monthly donation to our legal fund.

And please, pray for the young men and women struggling to escape the LGBTQ’s transgender trap.

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

Sources:

Fletcher, Harrison. “Sex Machine.” Westword, August 27, 1998. Westword.com/news/sex-machine-5058989.

Jones, S. L., & Yarhouse, M. A. (2011). A longitudinal study of attempted religiously mediated sexual orientation change. Journal of sex & marital therapy, 37(5), 404–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2011.607052.

Lee, Sophia. “Walt’s Story.” WORLD, March 30, 2017. WNG.org/articles/walts-story-1618203635.

Santero, Paul L, Neil E Whitehead, and Dolores Ballesteros. “Effects of Therapy on Religious Men Who Have Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction.” Catholic Medical Association, 2018. LC.org/PDFs/Attachments2PRsLAs/2018/081618SOCEStudySanteroWhitehead&Ballesteros(2018).pdf.

“SCOTUS Could Decide Future of Counseling Bans.” Liberty Counsel, March 10, 2025. LC.org/newsroom/details/031025-scotus-to-decide-future-of-counseling-bans.