A Message From Our Board Of Directors About Last Week’s Supreme Court Ruling

Last week, the Supreme Court sided with a counselor providing conversion therapy to minors in Colorado, despite the state’s ban on this harmful practice. The decision did not strike down conversion therapy bans outright, but it puts laws in California and more than 20 other states on uncertain legal ground – and sends a painful message to LGBTQ+ youth and the people who love them.

This is heavy. It is one more in a relentless series of moments where protections we believed were settled are being called back into question. For a community that fought for decades to end the practice of trying to deny our existence and change who we are, this ruling reopens wounds many of us thought had finally begun to heal.

It hits especially hard for young people. Every major medical and mental health organization in the country is unequivocal: conversion therapy is harmful, ineffective, and dangerous. LGBTQ+ youth who are subjected to it face significantly higher risks of depression, anxiety, and self harm. Our community spent years securing protections to keep kids safe from these practices, and the ground beneath those protections is now shifting.

We know that many of you are sitting with fear, grief, and anger right now. We are too.

When traditional institutions fall short, our community needs places that fill the gaps. We need places like the Center where our community can come together, access resources, heal, and take care of each other.

Our doors are open – our youth programs provide a safe, affirming space for LGBTQ+ young people to be themselves and connect with their peers. Our health, wellness, employment, and financial services are free and available to anyone who needs them. And our community space is here for you to connect, grieve, celebrate queer joy, and everything in between.

Our community has always sustained itself by showing up for each other. In times like these, that matters more than ever. Come visit the Center, bring a friend to one of our events, or explore our programs. If you’re able, your support helps us keep these doors open. The most radical thing we can do is find each other and from that place of connection, find the love, resilience, and joy we need to not just endure these setbacks, but to transcend them together.

We are here. We have always been here. And we are not going anywhere.

In Community,
The SF LGBT Center Board of Directors