by Natalia Mittelstadt
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a Colorado law banning conversion therapy for LGBT minors.
The court ruled in favor of a Christian therapist, rejecting the state’s law that prohibited mental health professionals from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBT minors, The New York Times reported.
The 8-1 decision impacts more than 20 other states that have similar laws banning conversion therapy.
The court’s majority decision said the law, as applied to talk therapy, impermissibly interferes with free speech.
“Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court’s opinion. “But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, reading a lengthy summary of her opposition from the bench.
Colorado’s law was adopted in 2019, and prohibits “any practice or treatment” that tries to change a minor’s “gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
The law has never been enforced, but it includes fines of up to $5,000 for each violation and possible suspension or revocation of a counselor’s license. The law includes an exemption for those “engaged in the practice of religious ministry.”
Kaley Chiles, who’s a Christian, sued Colorado over the law in 2022, arguing that it prevented her from working with young patients who want to live a life “consistent with their faith.”
In her court filings, she said that she was not seeking to “cure” clients of same-sex attractions or to “change” their sexual orientation, but to help them with their own stated goals, which sometimes include “seeking to reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions.”
In reaction to the ruling, Human Rights Campaign, a left-wing organization, rebuked the Supreme Court’s decision.
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, “Today’s reckless decision means more American kids will suffer. The Court has weaponized free-speech in order to prioritize anti-LGBTQ+ bias over the safety, health and wellbeing of children. So-called ‘conversion therapy’ is pseudoscience, not real therapy. It has been condemned by every mainstream medical and mental health association and harms families, traumatizes children and robs people of their faith communities.”
“It is cruel and should never be offered under the guise of legitimate mental healthcare. To undermine protections that keep kids and families safe from these abusive practices is shocking — and our children deserve better,” she added.
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Kaley Chiles” by Alliance Defending Freedom.
