A majority of the Supreme Court signaled Tuesday it is prepared to rule against Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors, with several justices signaling they agree with a licensed counselor in the state who says the law violates her First Amendment rights.
In one of the most significant cases the high court will address this year, the justices were asked to decide if states may ban the discredited practice, which purports to “convert” gay people to heterosexuality or transgender people to cisgender. Roughly half of US states have banned the therapy for minors, Colorado officials told the Supreme Court.
During a relatively low-key and short 90-minute session, several justices appeared to reject the idea the state can regulate “talk therapy” the same way it may regulate medical conduct.
Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to prior Supreme Court decisions in which the court declined to carve out a different First Amendment approach to professional speech.
“Just because they’re engaged in conduct doesn’t mean that their words aren’t protected,” Roberts said.
Kaley Chiles, a licensed counselor in Colorado, has challenged the law on those grounds. Her “faith-informed counseling” would be “speech only” and she says her clients would voluntarily seek her services. She rejects the term “conversion therapy” and instead describes the work she hopes to do as helping clients who “have a goal to become comfortable and at peace” with their body.