Judgment Against Boca Raton Counseling Ban

BOCA RATON, FL – After losing on appeal, the City of Boca Raton will have a judgment entered against it regarding the unconstitutional ordinance that prevented counselors from providing minor clients with help to reduce or eliminate unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or gender confusion. 

According to the judgment, Boca Raton will pay Dr. Robert Otto, LMFT and Dr. Julie Hamilton, LMFT, $50,000 and $25,000 respectively. While Dr. Otto maintained a counseling office in Boca Raton, Dr. Hamilton did not have an ongoing practice but planned on conducting counseling in the city. Under the judgement, Boca Raton has also agreed that Liberty Counsel is entitled to attorney’s fees and costs, the amount of which will be determined later. 

The case against Palm Beach County, whose ordinance was also struck down, is ongoing. 

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals previously struck down City Ordinance 5407 in Otto, et al v. City of Boca Raton, FL et al, and found that this law, and the ban in Palm Beach County, were both content and viewpoint based and violate the First Amendment right to free speech. Liberty Counsel will now pursue litigation against Palm Beach County. 

Liberty Counsel represents Dr. Robert Otto, LMFT and Dr. Julie Hamilton, LMFT and their minor clients who challenged the constitutionality of ordinances enacted by the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County which prohibit minors from voluntary counseling from licensed professionals. These licensed therapists provide life-saving counseling to minors who desperately desire to conform their attractions, behaviors, and gender identities to their sincerely held religious beliefs. 

Under the laws that were struck down, a counselor could encourage a client to take life-altering hormone drugs or even undergo invasive surgery to remove healthy body parts, but could not help a client who seeks to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions, behavior, or confusion. 

As a result of the Eleventh Circuit ruling in Otto v. City of Boca Raton, that Court also recently ruled that a Tampa ordinance that prohibited licensed counselors from providing voluntary talk therapy to minors seeking help to reduce or eliminate their unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity, is also unconstitutional under the First Amendment. In Vazzo v. City of Tampa, Liberty Counsel represents marriage and family therapist Robert Vazzo and his minor clients, as well as the Christian ministry, New Hearts Outreach Tampa Bay.