LOVEboldly Condemns Supreme Court Ruling Undermining Protections for LGBTQIA+ Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 31, 2026

Contact: Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp, Executive Director, LOVEboldly - bhuelskamp@loveboldly.org

LOVEboldly Condemns Supreme Court Ruling Undermining Protections for LGBTQIA+ Youth

Westerville, OH - Today, the United States Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to LGBTQIA+ children and teenagers across this country, ruling 8-1 to strike down Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors. We at LOVEboldly are heartbroken and we are not silent.

Let us be clear: conversion therapy is not therapy. It's not care. It's not love. It's a series of discredited, dangerous, and pseudoscientific practices that has been rejected by every major medical and mental health organization in this country. Study after study has shown that young people subjected to conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide. No constitutional argument changes that reality. Calling the psychological torment of a child "free speech" does not make it so.

We also reject, unequivocally, the theological framework that undergirds this practice. The God we know does not make mistakes. The God we worship breathed life into every LGBTQIA+ person and called them good, exactly as they are, exactly as they have always been. There is no divine mandate to erase, suppress, or convert the sacred identities of God's beloved children. Any theology that teaches otherwise is not good news. It is harm dressed in religious language.

To every LGBTQIA+ young person reading this today: you are not broken. You do not need to be fixed. You are loved by your Creator, and by this community without condition and without exception.

To the faith leaders, parents, and allies in Ohio and across this nation: this is a moment that demands more than sympathy. It demands solidarity. It demands that we use our voices, our pulpits, our platforms, and our relationships to protect the children in our communities. The courts have failed them today. We must not.

LOVEboldly will continue to create spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in their faith and in their full humanity. That work has never been more urgent.

This statement may be attributed to the Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp, Executive Director of LOVEboldly.

About LOVEboldly

Founded in 2011 and celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2026, LOVEboldly is an Ohio, faith-based nonprofit that exists to create spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in Christianity. Learn more about LOVEboldly’s work at www.loveboldly.org.

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