Supreme Court will take up state bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+
children, in a Colorado case
[March 11, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday in a case from
Colorado to decide whether state and local governments can enforce laws
banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.
The conservative-led court is taking up the case amid actions by
President Donald Trump targeting transgender people, including a ban on
military service and an end to federal funding for gender-affirming care
for transgender minors.
The justices also have heard arguments in a Tennessee case over whether
state bans on treating transgender minors violate the Constitution. But
they have yet to issue a decision.
Colorado is among roughly half the states that prohibit the practice of
trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity
through counseling.
The issue is whether the law violates the speech rights of counselors.
Defenders of such laws argue that they regulate the conduct of
professionals who are licensed by the state.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the state law.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has struck down local
local bans in Florida.
In 2023, the court had turned away a similar challenge, despite a split
among federal appeals courts that had weighed state bans and come to
differing decisions.
At the time, three justices, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence
Thomas, said they would have taken on the issue. It takes four justices
to grant review. The nine-member court does not typically reveal how
justices vote at this stage of a case so it’s unclear who might have
provided the fourth vote.
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The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17,
2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The case will be argued in the court’s new term, which begins in
October. The appeal on behalf of Kaley Chiles, a counselor in
Colorado Springs, was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, a
conservative legal organization that has appeared frequently at the
court in recent years in cases involving high-profile social issues.
Chiles has had to turn away clients because of the law, ADF lawyer
Jim Campbell said Monday on a conference call for reporters, though
he declined to say how many.
Chiles said the law, with potential fines of $5,000 and license
suspension or even revocation, “interferes with my ability to serve
my clients with integrity.”
One of ADF's earlier cases was a 5-4 decision in 2018 in which the
justices ruled that California could not force state-licensed
anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about
abortion.
Chiles’ lawyers leaned heavily on that decision in asking the court
to take up her case. They wrote that Chiles doesn’t “seek to ‘cure’
clients of same-sex attractions or to ‘change’ clients’ sexual
orientation.”
In arguing for the court to reject the appeal, lawyers for Colorado
wrote that lawmakers acted to regulate professional conduct, “based
on overwhelming evidence that efforts to change a child’s sexual
orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective.”
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