A US district court has ordered Boca Raton, Florida, to pay a combined seventy-five thousand dollars in damages to two therapists, while also ordering Palm Beach County to pay one hundred thousand dollars for passing so-called “conversion therapy” bans for minors seeking help with unwanted same-sex attraction. Liberty Counsel, which represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the judge’s order should “be a warning to any government that has not repealed similar counseling bans.”

Several municipalities in Wisconsin have audaciously enacted these bans that blatantly violate counselors’ First Amendment freedoms and rob confused minors of the real help and hope they need. This federal case sets a real precedent and these local governments in our state should be reading the handwriting on the wall and reversing course.