Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for
LGBTQ+ kids
[April 01, 2026]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law
banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about
two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.
An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues
the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices
agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a
lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors
speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a
shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in
this country.”
Gorsuch's opinion drew support from liberal Justices Elena Kagan and
Sonia Sotomayor.
A state could similarly not ban talk therapy designed to affirm a
minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity, Kagan wrote. “Once again,
because the State has suppressed one side of a debate, while aiding the
other, the constitutional issue is straightforward,” she wrote.
In a solo dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that states
should be free to regulate health care, even if that means incidental
restrictions on speech. The decision, Jackson wrote, “opens a dangerous
can of worms” that “threatens to impair states' ability to regulate the
provision of medical care in any respect.”
The decision is the latest in a line of recent cases in which the
justices have backed claims of religious discrimination while taking a
skeptical view of LGBTQ+ rights.
Counselor Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s
Republican administration, said the law wrongly bars her from offering
voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids.
Chiles contends her approach is different from “conversion therapy”
practices from decades ago, like shock therapy. Her attorneys argued
that the ban makes it hard for parents to find therapists willing to
discuss gender identity with kids unless the counseling affirms
transition.
“I look forward to being able to help them when they choose the goal of
growing comfortable with their bodies," Chiles said in a statement.
“Counselors walking alongside these young people shouldn’t be limited to
promoting state-approved goals like gender transition, which often leads
to harmful drugs and surgeries.”
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The Supreme Court in Washington, Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite, File)
Colorado disagreed, saying its law does allow wide-ranging
conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation and
exempts religious ministries. The state says the measure simply bars
using therapy to try to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality
or traditional gender expectations, a practice that has been
scientifically discredited and linked to serious harm.
The law doesn’t violate the First Amendment, Colorado argued,
because therapy is different from other types of speech since it's a
form of health care that the state has a responsibility to regulate.
Advocates for LGBTQ+ people condemned the ruling, as well as
“conversion therapy.”
“This is a dangerous practice that has been condemned by every major
medical association in the country. Today’s decision does not change
the science, and it does not change the fact that conversion
therapists who harm patients will still face legal consequences,”
Polly Crozier, director of family policy at GLAD Law, said in a
statement.
The 2019 law carries the possibility of fines and license
suspension, but no one has been sanctioned under it. The ruling is
expected to eventually make similar laws in other states
unenforceable.
Chiles was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a
conservative legal organization that has appeared frequently at the
court in recent years. The group also represented a Christian
website designer who successfully challenged Colorado
anti-discrimination law because she didn’t want to work with
same-sex couples.
Twenty-three states have laws barring health care providers from
offering “conversion therapy” for minors, and another four have some
restrictions, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an
advocacy group that tracks policies that impact LGBTQ+ people.
The high court agreed to hear the case after the 10th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the law. Another Atlanta-based
appeals court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had struck
down similar bans in Florida.
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