The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors, ruling that a Christian talk therapist's First Amendment rights supersede state efforts to protect young people from the discredited practice.
In an 8-1 decision, the justices sided with Kaley Chiles, a therapist represented by the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, who challenged the 2019 law as an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. The Colorado statute had prohibited licensed mental health professionals from attempting to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.
The majority opinion emphasized that the Constitution protects all speech rights equally, including unpopular views. "The Constitution does not protect the right of some to speak freely; it protects the right of all," the court wrote, rejecting arguments that professional counseling deserves different legal treatment than ordinary conversation.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stood alone in dissent, warning that the decision opens the door to widespread harm in American healthcare. She argued that medical speech differs fundamentally from generic free speech because patients depend on licensed professionals to provide sound, evidence-based guidance.
"In the worst-case scenario, our medical system unravels as various licensed healthcare professionals start broadly wielding their newfound constitutional right to provide substandard medical care," Jackson wrote. She called the outcome "baffling" and said it brings the nation closer to a dangerous erosion of healthcare quality.
A Setback With Loopholes
The ruling has immediate implications for LGBTQ protections across the country. More than 20 states have passed similar conversion therapy bans, and legal experts expect Tuesday's decision to render most of them unenforceable under the same logic.
Yet the fight may not be over. Justice Elena Kagan's concurrence, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, suggested that a viewpoint-neutral version of the law, one that barred all therapists from pushing any particular view on sexual orientation, could raise "a different and more difficult question." Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, told Axios that states could redraft their bans using this narrower approach.
Minter also noted that professional licensing boards retain power to discipline therapists, and malpractice and consumer fraud claims remain available legal tools. "All this does is take off the table one way of protecting kids," he said. "There's still many other legal avenues."
The case now returns to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration under heightened scrutiny.
Chiles had argued that Colorado's law functioned as a "gag order" preventing her from discussing values she shares with voluntary clients who set their own therapy goals. Her lawyers contended she uses only talk therapy and does not seek to "cure" clients of same-sex attraction. The state countered that the law was a legitimate regulation of professional conduct designed to protect vulnerable minors from harmful treatment.
Research underscores the stakes. The Trevor Project, a suicide and crisis prevention organization, found that young people who underwent conversion therapy reported attempting suicide at more than twice the rate of those who did not, with higher rates of multiple suicide attempts as well.
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