Ethics, Informed Consent, & Professional Speech
These resources emphasize client autonomy for fluidity exploration via informed consent.
Guidelines for the Practice of Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy
Journal of Human Sexuality. (2025). Volume 16 [Special issue on Chiles v. Salazar and therapy freedom].
https://www.journalofhumansexuality.com/_files/ugd/ec16e9_cfd1666f92a5421bb6863e619698bc37.pdf
Summary: Peer‑reviewed volume focusing on sexuality and gender from a Judeo‑Christian, natural‑law framework, with particular attention to voluntary care for unwanted same‑sex attraction and gender distress and to legal constraints on such talk‑therapy (including Chiles v. Salazar).
Common misrepresentation: Portrayed as a general “conversion therapy” advocacy tract or dismissed as non‑scholarly ideology rather than as a specialized journal addressing a narrow clinical and ethical niche.
What it actually shows: A scholarly, ATCSI‑sponsored journal that publishes empirical studies, clinical reports, and conceptual analyses aimed at supporting clients who seek to align their sexual feelings or gender identity with their faith and biological sex, while defending the freedom of therapists to offer such conventional talk‑based care.
Behnke, S. (2004). Informed consent and APA’s new ethics code... Monitor on Psychology, 35(6), 80.
Summary: Informed consent enhances autonomy in care.
Common misrepresentation: Mere paperwork.
What it actually shows: Ethical process for clients pursuing fluidity exploration, absent change assurances.
Behnke, S. (2004). Informed consent and APA’s new ethics code: Enhancing client autonomy, improving client care. Monitor on Psychology, 35(6), 80.
Summary: Explores how APA ethics-code changes underscore informed consent as a process for enhancing client autonomy and improving clinical care.
Common misrepresentation: Treated as if informed consent is merely bureaucratic paperwork or a legal shield for clinicians.
What it actually shows: That informed consent is an ethical, relational practice aimed at transparency, shared decision-making, and respect for client values and goals.
Rosik, C. H. (2025). “For Such a Time as This: An Interview With Kaley Chiles.” Journal of Human Sexuality, 16. Journal of Human Sexuality.
https://www.journalofhumansexuality.com
Summary: Presents Kaley Chiles’s personal account of her work as a Christian therapist, her clients who voluntarily seek help to align sexual or gender experiences with faith, and the personal costs of her legal stand.
Common misrepresentation: Reduced to propaganda for coercive “conversion therapy” or depicted as targeting unwilling clients.
What it actually shows: A first-person narrative emphasizing client self-selection, conscience, and ordinary talk-therapy rather than coercive or aversive techniques.
Hamilton, A. E. (2025). Brief of Dr. Alexandra E. Hamilton as amicus curiae in support of petitioner. Supreme Court of the United States, No. 24-539 (Chiles v. Salazar). https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-539/363059/20250613091513843_Chiles%20merits.pdf
Summary: Contends that sexual orientation and gender identity are neither uniformly defined nor fixed, and that Colorado’s law ignores documented fluidity and individual variability.
Common misrepresentation: Framed as denying LGBTQ identities or arguing that no stable identities exist.
What it actually shows: An emphasis on complexity and fluidity, used to argue against rigid legal categories that constrain individualized, value-consistent care.
Chiles v. Salazar, No. 24-539 (2025). Brief for petitioner on the merits. Supreme Court of the United States. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-539/362492/20250606115635027_24-359%20Brief%20of%20Petitioner.pdf
Summary: Sets out the core constitutional arguments that Colorado’s restrictions impermissibly target and punish certain counseling speech based on viewpoint in a voluntary therapeutic context.
Common misrepresentation: Portrayed as seeking permission for abuse or discrimination.
What it actually shows: A case-focused legal challenge centered on professional speech, client choice, and the limits of state power over consensual talk-therapy.
Sullins, D. P. (2022). Sexual orientation change efforts do not increase suicide. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02466-2*
Summary: Responds to criticisms and alleged misrepresentations of his empirical work on suicidality and sexual orientation change efforts, reanalyzing data and interpretation.
Common misrepresentation: Presented as an attempt to downplay suicide risk or to justify coercive therapy models.
What it actually shows: A methodological and interpretive clarification intended to correct how his findings were summarized in legal and policy briefs.
Pela, C. (2025, March). Scientific integrity and public health demand that I correct the record regarding serious misrepresentations of my research [PDF]. Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity. https://www.therapeuticchoice.com/_files/ugd/ec16e9_9a554e1a181440c99521e79a8092155a.pdf
Summary: Argues that key critics have seriously misstated the design, limits, and findings of his therapeutic outcome research, and contends that such misrepresentations distort public health and legal debates about exploratory and change-allowing therapy.
Common misinterpretations: Portrayed as an attempt to walk back or secretly rewrite his original findings, or as a blanket claim that his work proves sexual orientation can be reliably changed for everyone without risk.
What it actually shows: A methodological and ethical clarification in which the author defends the integrity and scope of his research, insisting on accurate reporting of methods and results while explicitly rejecting exaggerated claims about universal, risk-free change.
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