The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 31 that a Colorado law banning professional counseling services practicing “conversion therapy” for minors likely infringes on the First Amendment.
The decision is significant because it addresses whether state laws restricting certain types of counseling related to gender identity and sexual orientation violate free speech protections. The case, Chiles v. Salazar, centered on Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor who challenged the law as an infringement on her rights.
In an 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court did not strike down the law but sent it back to lower courts for further review, stating that previous courts “erred by failing to apply sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny.” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority: “The Constitution does not protect the right of some to speak freely; it protects the right of all.” He continued, “It safeguards not only popular ideas; it secures, even and especially, the right to voice dissenting views.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter in this case. She argued that for the first time, “the Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment to bless a risk of therapeutic harm to children by limiting the State’s ability to regulate medical providers who treat patients with speech,” warning of a potential slippery slope.
Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor concurred with Gorsuch but said their support was based on how Colorado’s law was content-based rather than viewpoint-neutral. Kagan wrote that they need not decide about viewpoint-neutral laws regulating health providers’ expression since “Colorado’s is not one.”
The Colorado Catholic Conference released a statement saying its bishops are thankful for the decision and will continue advocating for parental rights and religious liberty in light of this new precedent. Their statement added: “Chiles v. Salazar precedent rejects Colorado’s ban on genuine care for minors by their parents and counselors who offer compassionate care for gender dysphoria… Preventing this option puts ideology before healthcare.” Alliance Defending Freedom Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell called it “a decisive win for free speech,” saying: “It condemned Colorado’s unconstitutional censorship on counseling conversations… This means that Colorado can’t enforce its law to censor voluntary conversations between Kaylee and young clients seeking help on issues of gender and sexuality.”
Kelley Robinson, president of Human Rights Campaign, described the ruling as a “reckless decision” prioritizing anti-LGBTQ+ bias over children’s safety.
Chiles herself told reporters her clients often seek her out due to shared faith backgrounds: “I’ve worked with clients dealing with trauma… It’s crucial that families have counseling options… without the state dictating an outcome.” An amicus brief from Catholic organizations argued: “If freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment protects anything, it surely must protect advice on these critical questions of human existence.”
According to data from LGBTQ+ policy group Movement Advancement Project, twenty-three states plus Washington D.C. prohibit licensed providers from performing conversion therapy; four more states and Puerto Rico restrict but do not outright ban such practices.
During witness testimony at a Department of Justice hearing earlier in March, Chiles said young people deserve counselors able “to speak, ask questions [and] listen with compassion.”
Observers expect further legal proceedings as lower courts reconsider how strictly they must scrutinize similar laws.
