PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — Palm Beach County and the City of Boca Raton must pay nearly $885,000 in legal fees and costs following a federal court ruling in a long-running legal dispute over bans on “conversion therapy” for minors.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday increased the amount previously awarded to attorneys representing marriage and family therapists Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton, who challenged the constitutionality of local ordinances prohibiting the controversial practice.
The therapists were represented by the nonprofit legal group Liberty Counsel, according to the News Service Florida. In 2020, a panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court ruled that the bans violated the therapists’ First Amendment rights, striking down the ordinances passed by Palm Beach County and Boca Raton that barred licensed professionals from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity…