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Church leaders in Illinois are asking the Court to Illinois insert a religious exemption into a state law that prevents counselors from implementing conversion therapy on children. The pastors assert that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is "contrary to God’s purpose for humanity,” and claim that the law violates both their right of free exercise and speech.
From The Washington Post:
The law, which went into effect in January, bans licensed counselors and mental health professionals from practicing “conversion therapy” — counseling designed to make gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer people become straight — on minors. While religious leaders don’t fall under this category, the suit says pastors could be held liable for consumer fraud under a section of the law that says “no person or entity” may advertise or practice conversion therapy that “represents homosexuality as a mental disease, disorder or illness.”