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

Advocates, officials react

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8—1 that a challenge to Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors must be reconsidered under a more demanding First Amendment standard, siding with a Christian counselor who argued the law restricts what licensed therapists can say to clients. The decision did not immediately strike down the 2019 Colorado law but sent the case back to lower courts to review it under "strict scrutiny," the most demanding level of constitutional review.

Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said Colorado's law may amount to unconstitutional "viewpoint discrimination" because it allows counselors to affirm a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity but prohibits efforts to change it. Laws regulating speech based on viewpoint are considered the most serious type of First Amendment restriction.

The case, Chiles v. Salazar, was brought by a licensed counselor who said the law prevented her from offering therapy aligned with her religious beliefs. Colorado defended the statute as a regulation of professional conduct intended to protect minors from practices widely condemned by major medical organizations.

Conversion therapy bans have been adopted in Colorado and at least 25 other states, as well as Washington, D.C., after medical and mental-health groups warned the practice can cause significant psychological harm to LGBTQ+ youth. While the Supreme Court did not invalidate those laws outright, legal experts say the ruling could invite new challenges to similar bans across the country, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson filed the lone dissent, warning that the majority's reasoning could limit states' ability to regulate licensed professionals to protect vulnerable patients. Jackson argued Colorado's law was aimed at preventing harm to minors and did not discriminate based on viewpoint but instead regulated professional practices that lawmakers concluded were dangerous.

GLAD, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders

"What we know — and what the majority acknowledges — is that conversion therapy is harmful and that people have been dramatically hurt by efforts to change who they are," said Jennifer Levi.

Governor Maura Healey

"Massachusetts will always stand up for LGBTQ+ young people and their families and make sure they are safe, healthy, and able to be who they are."

Human Rights Campaign

"This decision is deeply troubling and puts LGBTQ+ young people at risk. Conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice that every major medical and mental health association has condemned."

The Trevor Project

"Conversion therapy is not therapy. It is a dangerous and discredited practice that harms LGBTQ+ young people. Research consistently shows that LGBTQ+ youth who are subjected to conversion therapy attempts face significantly higher risks of depression and suicide."