LGBTQ advocates are aghast that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a challenge to Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors. The case will be argued later this year, with a decision expected in spring 2026.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the nation's highest court declined in 2023 to hear the appeal of a therapist challenging Washington state's ban on the practice, which is denounced by medical and scientific professionals. Conversion therapy refers to psychological efforts to change one's sexual orientation or gender identity, and the practice is banned for youth in 23 states, including California, and in two territories and the District of Columbia.
The court declining to hear the Washington case left the ban in the Evergreen State in place after it was upheld by an appellate court in 2022. The issue being relitigated isn't seen as a good sign – conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito had opposed the decision not to take the earlier case.
Alito stated at the time that, "This case presents a question of national importance ... it is beyond dispute that these laws restrict speech, and all restrictions on speech merit careful scrutiny."
California was the first state to ban conversion therapy over a decade ago. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who represents the City by the Bay in the state senate, stated on Threads that, "This is absolutely terrifying."
"Conversion therapy – particularly of minors whose parents force them into it – is psychological torture," Wiener stated. "It consists of a zealot trying to force a kid not to be LGBTQ. States can and should protect these kids. The First Amendment doesn't protect torturing a child. These extremists are determined to erase us from existence."
Kaley Chiles filed the current case, Chiles v. Salazar. A licensed counselor who identifies as a Christian, Chiles claims the law infringes upon the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of the freedoms of speech and free exercise of religion. She is represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group.
"The government has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government's biased views on her clients," stated Kristen Waggoner, ADF's CEO, president and general counsel. "There is a growing consensus around the world that adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria need love and an opportunity to talk through their struggles and feelings. Colorado's law prohibits what's best for these children and sends a clear message: the only option for children struggling with these issues is to give them dangerous and experimental drugs and surgery that will make them lifelong patients. We are eager to defend Kaley's First Amendment rights and ensure that government officials may not impose their ideology on private conversations between counselors and clients."
The petition for certiorari filed with the court last year states Chiles works "with voluntary clients who determine the goals that they have for themselves ... Yet Colorado's law forbids her from speaking, treating her professional license as a license for government censorship."
It notes that Chiles and her clients "freely" and "fully" explore during their sessions "issues about gender roles, identity, sexual attractions, root causes of desires, behavior and values. ... Though Chiles never promises that she can solve these issues, she believes clients can accept the bodies that God has given them and find peace."
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson couldn't disagree more.
"The Supreme Court's decision to take up this case isn't just about so-called 'conversion therapy' – it's about whether extremists can use our courts to push their dangerous agenda, in an effort to erase LGBTQ+ people and gut protections that keep our kids safe," Robinson stated. "There's no debate: so-called 'conversion therapy' is a dangerous practice, not therapy, and it has no place in our communities. These bans exist to protect LGBTQ+ children from harm - period."
Robinson framed the issue as one about LGBTQ people's rights.
"Attacks on LGBTQ+ rights are the entry point to attacks on all of our rights," Robinson continued. "The same people trying to legalize abuse under the guise of 'therapy' are the ones banning books, ripping away reproductive rights, and undermining our democracy. The Supreme Court must uphold the 10th Circuit decision finding that these laws are constitutional."
Ma'ayan Anafi, the senior counsel for health equity and justice at the National Women's Law Center, cited a 2023 Trevor Project study that showed "15% of LGBTQ youth continue to be threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy - making these state protections more necessary than ever."
"It is alarming that the Supreme Court would consider a challenge to Colorado's critical protections for LGBTQI+ youth," Anafi stated. "Opposed by every major medical organization, this long-debunked practice is unethical, harmful, and even deadly. ... SCOTUS must uphold Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, and we will continue to advocate to keep LGBTQI+ youth safe."
Chris Stoll, senior staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, stated to the B.A.R. that ,"We urge the Supreme Court to uphold Colorado's life-saving law protecting young people from the dangers of conversion therapy, a discredited practice that drives youth to suicidality."
"Laws like Colorado's are extremely narrow, prohibiting state-licensed mental health professionals from engaging in harmful practices that falsely promise to change a young person's sexual orientation or gender identity," Stoll stated in a March 13 email. "These laws protect families from unethical state-licensed health professionals who prey on parents with false promises that they can prevent young people from being LGBTQ. "
The Golden State was the first state to ban conversion therapy with youth over a decade ago. (An effort to expand the ban to adults stalled in 2018.) Senate Bill 1172 focused on minors under the age of 18 was signed into law by then-governor Jerry Brown, who said at the time, "This bill bans non-scientific 'therapies' that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery."
In December 2012, that law was challenged by the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative "legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties," according to the group's website, on the basis that it infringed upon freedom of speech and religion. Judge William Schubb, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, ruled with challengers granting a preliminary injunction against the law.
That didn't last long, however. The 9th Circuit – the same appellate court in the Washington case – ruled in favor of the state of California. In 2014, the Supreme Court declined to hear two challenges to that ruling, effectively letting the law stand.
Jorge Reyes Salinas, a gay man who is the communications director for statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization Equality California, stated to the B.A.R. on March 12 that, "No one should be allowed to harm children under the guise of treatment."
Noting that 23 states have also banned conversion therapy with minors since California's ban went into effect, Reyes Salinas also pointed to how the practice has been disavowed by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"These laws exist to protect young LGBTQ+ people from psychological abuse that has been linked to depression, anxiety, and suicide," he stated. "Equality California remains committed to defending these protections. We will continue fighting to ensure that every LGBTQ+ person - especially young people - can grow up in a world that affirms and supports them, free from harmful and discredited practices like conversion therapy."
LGBTQ Agenda is an online column that appears weekly. Got a tip on queer news? Contact John Ferrannini at [email protected]
UPDATED 3/13/25 with comment from NCLR's Chris Stoll.
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