A federal appeals court has awarded Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit legal ministry, nearly $1 million in attorney fees.
The decision comes after the court ruled two city ordinances in Florida, which banned counseling for minors with unwanted same-sex attraction or sexual identity confusion, were unconstitutional.
The Ruling
The present case began after the City of Boca Raton, Florida and Palm Beach County, Florida, enacted ordinances prohibiting licensed counselors from providing simple talk therapy to help minor clients, struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction or wrong-sex confusion, live in line with their faith and biological reality.
Such counseling, which helps clients achieve their own goals and live consistently with their values, is often falsely labeled “conversion therapy” by LGBT activists.
Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton, both licensed marriage and family therapists who provide such counseling to minors, filed a lawsuit against the cities for violating their constitutional rights.
In 2020, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the ordinances violated the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause in a 2-1 decision. Judges Britt Grant and Barbara Lagoa, nominees of President Donald J. Trump, ruled in favor of Otto and Hamilton, while Obama-nominated Judge Beverly Martin dissented.
“The First Amendment has no carveout for controversial speech,” Judge Grant wrote in the court’s opinion.
“People have intense moral, religious, and spiritual views about these matters – on all sides. And that is exactly why the First Amendment does not allow communities to determine how their neighbors may be counseled about matters of sexual orientation or gender.”
Counseling censorship laws always enforce government-approved speech codes, mandating counselors only help minors embrace homosexual attractions or a “transgender” identity.
Under such laws, counselors cannot help minors who want therapy to accept their biological sex or live in accordance with biblical sexuality.
The Award
The 11th Circuit’s October 22, 2025 decision awards Liberty Counsel over $885,000 in fees and expenses, an increase of nearly $150,000 from a lower court judgment.
“Liberty Counsel has been litigating this case since June 2018,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver in a statement after the 11th Circuit’s ruling. “As a result of the victories over these unlawful counseling bans, minors who are struggling with gender confusion can get the help they need.”
Staver added,
Counselors and clients should have the freedom to choose the counsel of their choice and be free of government censorship. Enacting these unconstitutional bans was a costly decision by Boca Raton and Palm Beach County.
What’s Next?
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the issue of counseling censorship regarding a similar Colorado law that censors the speech of licensed counselors.
In 2019, Colorado enacted the “Prohibit Conversion Therapy for a Minor Act,” prohibiting licensed mental health professionals from offering talk therapy to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
When attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, who are representing Colorado Christian counselor Kaley Chiles, initially asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case, they cited the 11th Circuit’s ruling as a part of the reason the Court should do so.
The 11th Circuit’s ruling in favor of Otto and Hamilton conflicted with a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision against Chiles, the petition pointed out. When such a “circuit split” happens, the Supreme Court is far more likely to take up a case to resolve the dispute among the lower courts.
To date, 20 states and 100 locales have enacted counseling censorship laws.
The Court heard arguments in Chiles’ case on October 7. A decision in the case – which will affect all state laws and ordinances censoring the speech of counselors – is expected by the end of June 2026.
The 11th Circuit case is Otto, et al v. City of Boca Raton, FL et al, and the case before the U.S. Supreme Court is Chiles v. Salazar.
Related articles and resources:
Supreme Court Hears Colorado ‘Conversion Therapy’ Censorship Case
Christian Counselor Sues La Crosse, Wisconsin, over ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban
In Victory for Free Speech, Court Strikes Down Bans on Counseling for LGBT Individuals
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