Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge On Conversion Therapy Ban
A Colorado law banning the discredited tactic known as conversion therapy will be challenged in front of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court will decide whether a ban on conversion therapy violates the constitutional rights of conservative therapists.
Justices agreed on Monday to hear an appeal to a law in Colorado that bans the harmful and discredited tactic. The challenge was filed in 2022 by Kayley Chiles, a Christian therapist licensed in the state. Chiles claims Colorado’s restrictions violate her free speech and free religion rights under the First Amendment. This argument places therapy under the guise of “free speech” rather than a tested medical profession.
According to court documents, Chiles claims she counsels adults and minors with “mental health needs” including “gender dysphoria” and “sexual attraction.” She goes on to state that her clients share her “biblical worldview” and are often referred to her from local churches. Chiles claims that her clients want to “reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with [their] physical body.”
The idea that a “therapy” technique can change a person’s sexuality or gender identity is a false claim that is bred out of discrimination and hatred. The abusive practice of conversion therapy has been discredited by medical and mental health organizations for decades, yet some practitioners continue to push the dangerous rhetoric onto vulnerable minors and young adults.
In September, a federal appeals court threw out Chiles’ challenge and upheld the state’s ban in a 2-1 decision.
The law “does not prohibit a mental health professional from discussing what conversion therapy is, what her views on conversion therapy are, or who can legally provide this treatment to her minor clients,” Judge Veronica S. Rossman wrote in the court’s 2024 opinion. “It only bars a mental health professional from engaging in the practice herself.”
Chiles, represented by the Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), has been undeterred in challenging the case. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear her appeal is unprecedented. Justices have declined to take up multiple appeals, most recently from another licensed therapist, Brian Tingley, in Washington.
The choice to hear Chiles’ challenge is indicative of our political climate. Republicans hold a 6-3 supermajority in the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice John Roberts and three Trump-appointed justices. The court’s decision in this case could cause conversion therapy bans in over 20 states to be questioned and challenged, leaving LGBTQ+ minors in deadly situations.
According to The Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth who were subjected to conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple suicide attempts. Further research from The Trevor Project shows the U.S. spends $650 million on the direct cost of conversation therapy annually. The cost of harms associated with the practice, including substance abuse, are estimated to cost $8.58 billion annually. Combined, conversion therapy costs the U.S. $9.23 billion a year.
“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,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “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.”
The court is scheduled to hear the case and make a decision during the next term, which begins in October and ends in June 2026.
