WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in its latest LGBTQ+ rights case, weighing the constitutionality of bans passed by nearly half of U.S. states on the practice known as child conversion therapy.
Judges claim hearing from a Christian counselor challenging a Colorado law banning therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. Kaylee Chiles, backed by President Donald Trump's Republican administration, argues that the law violates her free speech by barring her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy to children.
Colorado, on the other hand, argues that the measure merely regulates licensed therapists by prohibiting practices that are scientifically discredited and associated with serious harm.
The arguments come months after the Supreme Court's conservative majority found states may ban transition-related health care for transgender youth, a blow to LGBTQ rights. The judges are also expected to consider the case participation in sports transgender players in this term.
Colorado did not sanction anyone under a 2019 law that exempts religious services from liability. State attorneys say it still allows any therapist to have broad, faith-based conversations about gender and sexuality with young patients.
“The only thing the law prohibits therapists from doing is providing treatment aimed at the predetermined outcome of changing a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity because such treatment is unsafe and ineffective,” Colorado prosecutors wrote.
According to them, therapy is not just speech, it is health care that governments have a responsibility to regulate. Violation of the law carries a fine of $5,000 and license suspension or even revocation.
Linda Robertson is a Christian mother of four from Washington State whose son Ryan underwent therapy that promised to change his sexual orientation after he came out to her at age 12. These methods caused him to blame himself when it didn't work, leaving him ashamed and depressed. He died in 2009 after several suicide attempts and drug overdoses at the age of 20.
“What happened during conversion therapy destroyed Ryan's bond with me and my husband,” she said. “And it completely destroyed his confidence that God could ever love or accept him.”
Chiles says her approach differs from conversion therapy, which decades ago was associated with practices such as shock therapy. She said she believes that “people thrive when they live according to God's design, including their biological sex,” and argued that there was insufficient evidence of harm from her approach.
Chiles says Colorado is discriminatory because it allows counselors to claim that minors come out as gay or identify as transgender, but prohibits counseling like hers for younger patients who may want to change their behavior or feelings. “We're not saying that counseling should be mandatory, but if someone wants counseling, they should be able to get it,” said one of her lawyers, Jonathan Scruggs.
The Trump administration has said Colorado's law has First Amendment problems that would subject the law to a higher legal standard that few measures pass.
Chiles is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that has appeared frequently in court in recent years. The group also represented a Christian web designer who does not want to work with same-sex couples and successfully challenged Colorado anti-discrimination law in 2023.
The group's argument in the conversion therapy case also builds on another 2018 victory: a Supreme Court decision that found California cannot force state-licensed pregnancy centers to provide abortion information. The group argues that Chile should also be free from this type of government regulation.
However, the Supreme Court has also found that rules that only “incidentally” limit free speech are permissible, and the state argues that repealing the anti-conversion therapy law would undermine states' ability to regulate discredited health care for all children.
The high court agreed to hear the case after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the law. Another appeals court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, struck down similar bans in Florida.
Legal disputes continued elsewhere. In WisconsinThe state's highest court recently allowed the state to enforce the ban. Virginia officials, by contrast, agreed to scale back enforcement of the law as part of a settlement with the religious conservative group that filed the lawsuit.
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