The Supreme Court governed Tuesday that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors violates the First Amendment When applied to counselors who only use talk therapy, this is a groundbreaking decision with far-reaching implications for how states regulate the talk of licensed health care professionals.
The court voted 8-1 to overturn a lower court ruling that had upheld the law, concluding that Colorado law imposes viewpoint discrimination by allowing counselors to confirm a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity but prohibiting them from helping clients who want to change those things.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint” and cannot survive under the First Amendment just because the state describes talk therapy as professional conduct.
“The First Amendment is not a play on words,” Gorsuch wrote. “And the rights it protects cannot be renamed or their protection nullified by mere labels.”
The case was filed by Kaley Chilesa licensed mental health counselor who argued that Colorado Law of 2019 prevented them from helping clients achieve their own stated goals through conversation alone.
Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, agreed but wrote separately, noting that a thought-neutral law restricting speech in medical facilities would present “a different and more difficult question.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, warning that the ruling could make voice-based medical treatments “virtually unregulated” and that the decision was “playing with fire.”
Jackson argued that the court has long recognized that states can regulate the practice of medicine, including oral care, without triggering heightened constitutional scrutiny.
Twenty-five other states have enacted similar laws Conversion therapy Bans. The decision is expected to lead to legal challenges to these laws across the country. However, their practical reach will depend on how lower courts apply the ruling’s distinction between viewpoint-based and viewpoint-neutral restrictions on professional expression.
