AFTER PAWTUCKET TRAGEDY, RI STILL BLOCKS HONEST COUNSELING GROUNDED IN BIOLOGICAL REALITY
Rhode Island families deserve real mental health options for their kids, not government restrictions that silence counselors. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down a similar ban in Colorado, the Law Centre at the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is calling on the Department of Health to stop enforcing the state’s conversion therapy law immediately. On this episode of #InTheDugout with Mike Stenhouse, Bob Chiaradio breaks down the fight for free speech and commonsense access to counseling.
Following the tragic Pawtucket ice rink shooting by a transgender individual, which highlighted serious failures in mental health support and the denial of biological reality, Rhode Island families continue to face government barriers to honest counseling.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s March 21, 2026 decision in Chiles v. Salazar, which struck down Colorado’s similar “conversion therapy” ban as a violation of the First Amendment, the Law Centre at the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is urging Rhode Island’s Department of Health to immediately stop enforcing the state’s unconstitutional law.
On this episode of #InTheDugout with Mike Stenhouse, Bob Chiaradio breaks down the fight for free speech, parental rights, and commonsense access to therapy that respects biological truth.
Stenhouse asks Chiaradio why Rhode Island persists in threatening licensed mental health professionals with suspension or revocation for simply offering care that parents and counselors believe is appropriate especially now that the nation’s highest court has ruled such restrictions unconstitutional.
The conversation exposes a troubling hypocrisy: after the Pawtucket tragedy renewed urgent calls for improved mental health access, the state continues to enforce a law that limits families’ options for counseling grounded in biological reality rather than ideology. Rhode Islanders deserve better than government overreach that puts political narratives ahead of child well-being and parental rights.
Watch the full episode now to hear the details of the Law Centre’s letter, the constitutional stakes, and what happens next if RIDOH refuses to act. This is the accountability conversation the Ocean State urgently needs.
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