WASHINGTON, DC–The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) today overwhelmingly found a Colorado statute banning so-called “conversion therapy” to be an unconstitutional, ruling the law infringes on free speech rights under the First Amendment.
The decision will have a ripple effect across the country, impacting similar laws in more than 20 states.
As previously reported by Complete Colorado, a statute enacted in 2019 prohibited licensed therapists in Colorado from using what is often called “conversion therapy” on minors.
The law defines conversion therapy as any “efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction.”
While the law barred any efforts by therapists at steering minors away from gender dysphoria, it did not prohibit counseling encouraging them towards it.
Kayley Chiles, a therapist in Colorado Springs, filed a lawsuit in 2024, with the public interest law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) representing her, arguing the statute violated her right to free speech by limiting counselor conversations, and threatening a steep $5,000 fine along license revocation.
The case eventually made its way to the high court, which on March 31 ruled 8-1 in favor of Chiles that the statute violates the First Amendment, with the government favoring one particular viewpoint through censorship.
“Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety. Certainly, censorious governments throughout history have believed the same,” Justice Gorsuch wrote on behalf of the court. “But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
“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,” Chiles said in an ADF media release. “The Supreme Court’s ruling is a victory for counselors and, more importantly, kids and families everywhere.”
This is ADF’s 17th Supreme Court win since 2011. They are well known in Colorado for other free speech victories, including Colorado cake decorator Jack Phillips, who won his case against Colorado before the Supreme Court after refused to make a wedding cake for two gay men.
ADF also successfully defended a Christian bookstore from gender-expression laws and exempted a Christian summer camp from Colorado state government gender identify mandates.
