Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ kids

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ children in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the notorious practice.

An 8-1 majority in the Supreme Court sided with a Christian counselor who said the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raised concerns about freedom of expression and sent it back to a lower court to decide whether it met legal standards that few laws pass.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors viewpoint-based speech.” He wrote that the First Amendment “stands as a shield against any effort to impose orthodoxy in the thought or discourse of this country.”

Gorsuch’s opinion was supported by liberal justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

A state likewise cannot prohibit talk therapy designed to confirm a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity, Kagan wrote. “Once again, because the state suppressed one side of the debate while assisting the other, the constitutional issue became clear and direct,” she wrote.

In a lone dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that states should be free to regulate health care, even if that means imposing occasional restrictions on free speech. Jackson wrote that the decision “opens the door to a dangerous can of worms” that “threatens to weaken the ability of states to regulate the provision of medical care in any way.”

The decision is the latest in a series of recent cases in which justices have upheld claims of religious discrimination while taking a skeptical view of LGBTQ+ rights.

Counselor Callie Chiles, with the support of President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, said the law wrongly prevents her from providing voluntary faith-based treatment to children.

Chiles emphasizes that her approach differs from “conversion therapy” practices of decades ago, such as shock therapy. Her lawyers argued that the ban makes it difficult for parents to find therapists willing to discuss gender identity with children unless counseling confirms transition.

“I look forward to being able to help them as they choose the goal of being comfortable with their bodies,” Chiles said in a statement. “Counselors who walk alongside these young people should not limit themselves to promoting state-sanctioned goals such as gender transition, which often leads to harmful medications and surgeries.”

Colorado disagreed, saying its law allows for broad conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation and excludes religious ministries. The state says the measure simply prevents the treatment from being used to try to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexual or traditional gender expectations, a practice that has been scientifically discredited and linked to serious harm.

Colorado argued that the law does not violate the First Amendment, because therapy differs from other types of speech because it is a form of health care that the state has a responsibility to regulate.

Advocates for the LGBTQ+ community condemned the ruling, as well as “conversion therapy.”

“This is a dangerous practice that has been condemned by every major medical association in the country,” Polly Crozier, director of family policy at GLAD Law, said in a statement. “Today’s decision does not change the science, and it does not change the fact that conversion therapists who harm patients will still face legal consequences.”

The 2019 law carries the potential for fines and license suspension, but no one has been punished under it. This ruling is expected to ultimately render unenforceable similar laws in other states.

Chiles was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that has appeared repeatedly in court in recent years. The group also represented a Christian website designer who successfully challenged Colorado’s anti-discrimination law because she did not want to work with same-sex couples.

Twenty-three states have laws preventing health care providers from providing “conversion therapy” to minors, and four other states have some restrictions, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an advocacy group that tracks policies affecting LGBTQ+ people.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the law. Another Atlanta-based appeals court, the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, overturned a similar ban in Florida.