Missouri counselors win new review in free speech case after challenging local ‘conversion therapy’ bans
The 8th Circuit ordered a lower court to revisit two Missouri counselors’ First Amendment challenge to Kansas City-area ordinances that ban counseling aimed at helping minors move away from unwanted same-sex attraction or a “transgender” identity while allowing counseling that affirms those identities.
Two Missouri counselors challenging Kansas City and Jackson County “conversion therapy” bans won a new review from the 8th Circuit on July 2 after arguing that the ordinances unlawfully bar them from helping minors address unwanted same-sex attraction or confusion over their sex while allowing counselors to affirm LGBT identities.
In an unsigned opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ordered a federal district court to reconsider the First Amendment lawsuit in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s March 31 decision in Chiles v. Salazar. In that case, the high court rejected a similar Colorado law banning “conversion therapy” and held that counseling conversations are protected by the First Amendment, as Zeale News previously reported.
According to court documents, the challenged ordinances prohibit licensed counselors from trying to help minors change same-sex attractions or a “gender identity” at odds with their biological sex, while expressly allowing counseling that supports “gender transition” or offers “acceptance, support, and understanding.”
The lawsuit, Wyatt Bury v. City of Kansas City, was filed in February 2025 by licensed counselors Wyatt Bury and Pamela Eisenreich, along with the state of Missouri.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents the counselors, the plaintiffs argue that the ordinances violate their free speech rights and force them to promote views on marriage, identity, and sexuality that conflict with their Christian faith.
ADF Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart said in a July 2 statement that no government “should single out views they don’t like for disfavored treatment.”
“The Kansas City and Jackson County ordinances allow counselors to push kids down the dangerous path of gender transition, often leading to harmful drugs and surgeries, but they forbid counselors like Wyatt and Pamela from talking with kids to help them accept their bodies — even when that is the client’s express goal or the reason they seek the counselors’ advice,” Neihart added. “This is precisely what the U.S. Supreme Court so recently explained isn’t acceptable under the First Amendment.”
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