DETROIT (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked Michigan's ban on conversion therapy for minors who are LGBTQ+, declaring it violates the First Amendment rights of therapists and counselors.
In a 2-1 opinion, the court said the law illegally restricts speech that reflects the moral beliefs of therapists. It set aside a lower court's ruling and granted a preliminary injunction sought by Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties.
“The Michigan law discriminates based on viewpoint — meaning the law permits speech on a particular topic only if the speech expresses a viewpoint that the government itself approves,” Judge Raymond Kethledge wrote, joined by Judge Joan Larsen.
They noted that the law permits counseling that helps someone undergoing a gender transition.
The court's decision comes more than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a Colorado case that could resolve the issue nationwide.
In a dissent, Judge Rachel Bloomekatz said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should have waited for the Supreme Court to act.
The Michigan bill was passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and signed into law in 2023 by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who said conversion therapy is a “horrific practice.” Therapists could lose their license if they violate the law. More than 20 states have a similar law.
LGBTQ+ rights advocates have cited research suggesting conversion therapy can increase the risk of suicide and depression.
FILE - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addresses the media during a news conference, Sept. 29, 2025, in Grand Blanc Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
SAN BARTOLO MORELOS, Mexico (AP) — For 32 years, Cruz Monroy has walked the streets of a small town on the fringes of Mexico's capital with a tower of small cages filled with a rainbow of birds.
The melodies of red cardinals, green and blue parakeets and multicolored finches fill the days of “pajareros,” or street bird vendors, like him.
The act of selling birds in stacks of cages — sometimes far taller than the men who carry them — goes back generations. They've long been a fixture in Mexican markets and are among 1.5 million street vendors that work on the streets of Mexico.
“Hearing their songs, it brings people joy,” Monroy said, the sounds of dozens of birdsongs echoing over him from his home in his small town outside Mexico's capital, where he cares for and raises the birds. “This is our tradition, my father was also a bird-seller.”
During the Catholic holiday of Palm Sunday, hundreds of pajareros from across the country flock to Mexico City and decorate 10-foot-tall stacks of cages, adorning them with bright flowers, tinsel and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint.
They walk miles through the streets of the capital with their birds and their families to the city's iconic basilica.
But pajareros have slowly disappeared from the streets in recent years in the face of mounting restrictions by authorities and sharp criticisms by animal rights groups, who call the practice an act of animal abuse and trafficking.
Monroy and others say they don't capture birds like parrots and others prohibited by Mexican authorities — which say tropical species are “wild birds, not pets” — often breed the birds they own themselves and take good care of their animals. Despite that, Monroy said in his family, the tradition is dying out.
In the face of harassment by authorities and mounting criticisms, he said he wants his own sons to find more stable work.
"Because of the restrictions, harassment by certain authorities, many friends have left selling birds behind," Monroy said. “For my children, it's not stable work anymore. We have to look for other alternatives.”
People walk with decorated bird cages during an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Bird sellers with his decorated cages enter the Basilica of Guadalupe during their annual pilgrimage in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Humberto Lopez prepares a cage with birds to sell in Toluca, Mexico, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A decorated cage sits on a street during an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
People walk with decorated bird cages during an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A vendor prepares a cage containing his birds before an annual pilgrimage of bird vendors to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
