Colorado’s conversion therapy ban and why the Supreme Court wants to hear a free speech challenge about the law

Colorado’s 2019 ban on so-called conversion therapy was meant to protect minors from practices the state calls unsafe and ineffective. Now, that same law sits before the U.S. Supreme Court, accused of doing what the Constitution forbids, policing words rather than conduct.

Under the statute, licensed therapists can face fines of up to $5,000 for trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity toward a predetermined outcome. Counseling that affirms a client’s existing identity is permitted, but efforts to alter it are not, a line critics say enforces ideological conformity.

Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor backed by the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, argues the measure “censors voluntary conversations” between therapist and client. Her supporters frame the issue as classic viewpoint discrimination: the state endorses one message, acceptance, while forbidding another, change.

Conservative court tests limits

During oral arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether labeling therapy “conduct” removes its speech protections. Justice Samuel Alito was blunter, calling the statute’s one-sided permissions “blatant viewpoint discrimination.”

Colorado’s solicitor general countered that states have always been empowered to block unsafe medical practices, citing a century of evidence showing conversion therapy “has no record of success” and links to higher suicide risk among LGBTQ youth.

When is a decision expected?

More than 20 states ban conversion therapy for minors. A ruling siding with Chiles could weaken all of them, and upend how states regulate professional advice that relies on words. A decision is expected by late June, with the Court’s 6-3 conservative majority again weighing where free speech ends and public protection begins. It feels like a very common theme right now.

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