Supreme Court will hear case challenging Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for minors

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 10, 2025 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit that challenges Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors who have gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction and will consider religious freedom and free speech concerns about the prohibition.

Justices announced on Monday, March 10, that they would hear a legal challenge to a Colorado law that expressly prohibits licensed psychologists and therapists from engaging in what it calls “conversion therapy.” This ban does not apply to actions or statements from parents, clergy members, or others.

State law defines “conversion therapy” as “any practice or treatment” that attempts to change a person’s “sexual orientation or gender identity,” such as efforts to change a person’s “behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

The law states that permitted therapy includes treatments that provide “acceptance, support, and understanding” to help facilitate a person’s “coping, social support, and identity exploration, and development.”

A Christian counselor named Kaley Chiles filed a lawsuit to challenge the law in 2022, arguing that her clients come to her for faith-based counseling, and some are referred by churches or word of mouth. The lawsuit asserts that the law constitutes viewpoint discrimination because it expressly permits therapy that is supportive of gender transitions but prohibits therapy that is rooted in “a religious viewpoint that aligns with her religious beliefs and those of her clients.”

“Chiles’ clients voluntarily and specifically seek her counsel because they want the help her viewpoint provides,” the lawsuit states. “Yet Colorado’s law forbids her from speaking, treating her professional license as a license for government censorship.”

According to the lawsuit, Chiles does not impose her beliefs on her clients. Rather, it states she discusses her client’s objectives and goals and his or her religious and spiritual values to better formulate a unique plan for her client.

The lawsuit states that some clients wish to discuss issues that “implicate Christian values about human sexuality and the treatment of their own body.” It adds that some of her clients are living lifestyles inconsistent with their faith that cause “internal conflict, depression, and anxiety” and desire Christian-based counseling to change their behaviors or eliminate unwanted urges.

Chiles is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is a Christian legal group that has won religious freedom victories at the Supreme Court level in the past. This includes a 2023 Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Christian web designer who refused to design websites for same-sex civil weddings. 

ADF President Kristen Waggoner said in a statement that the Colorado government “has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors, nor should a counselor be used as a tool to impose the government’s biased views on her clients.”

“There is a growing consensus around the world that adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria need love and an opportunity to talk through their struggles and feelings,” she continued. “Colorado’s law prohibits what’s best for these children and sends a clear message: The only option for children struggling with these issues is to give them dangerous and experimental drugs and surgery that will make them lifelong patients.”

The lawsuit argues that the Colorado law violates Chiles’ First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. 

“We are eager to defend Kaley [Chiles’] First Amendment rights and ensure that government officials may not impose their ideology on private conversations between counselors and clients,” Waggoner said.

In the past, the Supreme Court has declined to take up lawsuits related to “conversion therapy” bans. In December 2023, the court decided 6-3 to refuse to hear a challenge to a Washington law that is nearly identical to Colorado’s law.

More than 20 states either restrict or outright ban this form of therapy. The Supreme Court’s decision could set nationwide precedent on whether states can restrict or ban so-called “conversion therapy.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262661/supreme-court-will-hear-case-challenging-colorado-ban-on-conversion-therapy-for-minors