IN Lincoln, Nebraska, a counselor can guide a hurting child toward gender transition without a second thought or government oversight.
But help that same child embrace the body that God gave her, and the counselor could go to jail…
Similar laws enacted under the guise of “gender equity” exist in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, and make it a criminal offense to run practices that try to change or suppress a person’s “sexual orientation or gender identity”.
Tom Olp, executive vice president of the Nebraska’s Thomas More Society, says their legal team has just filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of two Christian counselors to end this injustice.
One of them is Tom Dierks, who for more than 27 years, has helped people through some of the hardest seasons of their lives.
“If we win, Tom and therapists like him will be free to give truly compassionate help to any young person who asks, and every city still clinging to a speech ban like Lincoln’s will be on notice that the First Amendment protects compassionate talk therapy.
“The Supreme Court has spoken, and City of Lincoln officials should listen. If they won’t, we trust a federal court will help them hear.
“As a licensed counselor, he sits with them, listens to their stories, and asks the questions that help them understand themselves. A lifelong Catholic, he welcomes prayer when a client wants it, and he lets every client set his or her own goals.”
Mr Olps describes the heart of his work with a wisdom born of long experience: “Some of the best counseling moments happen when both parties are able to speak freely. Under Lincoln’s city law, Tom risks jail if he chooses to speak freely.
“Imagine a teenage girl suffering from gender dysphoria who walks into Tom’s office and asks, in her own words, for help embracing the body God gave her and living out the faith she shares with her family.
“Lincoln’s ordinance won’t let Tom help her make that change, even though it is exactly what she is asking for, yet if the same girl wanted to undergo “gender transition,” the law would let a counselor help her toward transition. Only one kind of change is allowed.”
If Tom honors the goal she came in with, he faces up to six months in jail, a fine for every day the “violation” continues, and the loss of his license.
“The ones who lose most are the young people who reach out. Lincoln leaves them with one government-approved answer, pointing down a path that many young adults later deeply regret.Lincoln’s attorneys may defend their ordinance, and we must be ready to answer them at every stage,” says Mr Olps.
He says the threat hanging over the heads of counselors like Tom goes even further.The ordinance allows anyone who “has reason to believe” a counselor crossed the line to file a complaint, and the City’s Commission on Human Rights must investigate.
An activist doesn’t have to be a client, or even know one, to put a counselor’s career on the line. So, conversations Tom should be free to have openly now come with the risk of prosecution hanging over them.
The remarkable fact about the situation is that the Lincoln municipality is clinging to a law the Supreme Court has already condemned.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8–1 in Chiles v. Salazar against a nearly identical Colorado law, holding that it discriminated against counselors based on viewpoint.
“Two weeks later, we wrote to Lincoln’s City Attorney and asked the City of Lincoln to repeal its ordinance. In July, we gave the City a final chance to avoid a lawsuit. Lincoln has chosen to keep its speech ban.”
US and other readers are invited to stand with Christian counselors and therapists like Tom Dierka and contribute to legal costs.