(MCT) — SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento federal judge late Monday barred California from enforcing its new law prohibiting “gay conversion therapy” against two mental health providers and a student who are suing to derail the measure.

U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb, who practiced First Amendment law before his appointment to the bench, found the three “are likely to succeed on the merits of their … claims based on violations of their rights to freedom of speech under the First Amendment.”