Two more Minnesota cities have adopted counseling bans that intrude on counselor-client relationships by allowing the city council to dictate what kind of help young people struggling with gender dysphoria or unwanted same-sex attraction may seek out. Winona and West Saint Paul’s bans, both of which passed on Monday night, bring the total number of Minnesota cities that have adopted these counseling bans up to six.
These bans make it punishable for a licensed counselor or therapist to discuss a full range of options with their clients. Counseling bans are especially concerning when it comes to teens struggling with gender dysphoria. Even though the vast majority of young people struggling with gender dysphoria and do not “transition” become comfortable with their biological sex as they get older, these bans would usher young people into social transition and medical “treatments” that carry life-long effects and do not improve mental health outcomes. City officials do not have the right to decide that a young person struggling with gender dysphoria cannot receive help in the form of watchful waiting and counseling instead of being rushed into a “transition” that will affect them for the rest of their lives, nor do they have the right to limit the free speech of counselors in this way.
Counseling bans rob young people of options and inappropriately intrude on client-counselor relationships and free speech. It is not the role of city officials to decide what a licensed counselor may say to their client or to determine what options a young person may pursue.
