Private religious school sues state over law against gay conversion therapy

A private religious school is attempting to block a state law it inspired.

The complaint claims SB 524, a 2016 law barring private boarding schools from using LGBT conversion therapy and several other practices, violates the right to religious freedom of the school and parents who send their children there. Teen Rescue v. Becerra, 19-CV00457 (E.D. Cal., filed March 13, 2019).

SB 524 was authored by then-Sen. Ricardo Lara, who said he was inspired by the story of a former student who claimed she was abused at the River View Christian Academy. Lake Elsinore-based Teen Rescue is the parent organization of the school, whose address it keeps confidential.

The law extended the Community Care Facilities Act to cover “private alternative boarding schools” like River View. This extended numerous rights to students, including to personal privacy, to not be held against their will and “to be free from acts that seek to change his or her sexual orientation.”

“No exception is provided for religious educational institutions,” attorneys Kevin T. Snider and Matthew B. McReynolds of the conservative Pacific Justice Institute wrote in the complaint, filed last week.

“The state cannot have jurisdiction over a religious school,” Snider told the Daily Journal.

The complaint said the school “does not provide equal opportunities for other religions or secular world views” and “holds a hetero-normative view of relationships.” It claims violations of the First and 14th Amendments for “unconstitutional interference with the free exercise of religion and parental rights.”

The institute seeks to have the law invalidated but asks for no damages beyond court costs and attorney fees. The complaint lists a co-plaintiff, Carlton Williams, a parent of a child enrolled at the school and said he is seeking class status for other parents to join him.

Snider said the rights of parents trump the rights of minors in this case.

“Kids don’t typically have the right to attend the church they want to attend when they’re living at home,” Snider said. “When you’re 18, you can do your own thing.”

The complaint also details multiple visits to the school by officials with the California Department of Social Services between 2011 and 2015. These culminated in a search warrant in January. According to the complaint, the warrant was executed by “16 uniformed and armed members of the California Highway Patrol with two attack dogs.”

In media reports, Lara said he was inspired to introduce SB 524 after meeting Rebecca Lopez, an LGBT teen who attended the school. Lopez has claimed the school practices gay conversion therapy, skirting a 2012 California law banning conversion therapy for minors. School founder Phil Ludwig has denied this.

Lara’s bill was backed by several child welfare and LGBT groups. Last year, he was elected state insurance commissioner, becoming the first openly-LGBT statewide officer in California history. A spokesperson for Lara said he was unable to comment on pending litigation.

The bill imposed many other responsibilities on schools like River View as well. These include a minimum student age of 12, a requirement that schools provide accurate description of their programs in promotional materials, and that alcohol and drug counseling be done by licensed mental health providers.

Bill supporters cited a 2008 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office finding many residential facilities around the country lacked oversight and sometimes misrepresented their programs and credentials.

Several other states have also banned gay conversion therapy, but supporters of these laws say enforcement is often spotty. Last year, the state Legislature passed a bill that would also have banned gay conversion therapy for adults by redefining the practice as medical fraud.

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, withdrew AB 2943 before it reached then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. Low said he wanted to meet with religious groups and reintroduce a measure that would take their concerns into account but has not introduced a new bill on the topic so far in the new legislative session.