The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a Colorado law that bans so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors.
.An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor Kaley Chiles, who argued the law banning “talk therapy” violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint,” noting that the First Amendment “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
In a solo dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that states should be free to regulate health care, even if that means incidental restrictions on speech. The decision, Jackson wrote, “opens a dangerous can of worms” that “threatens to impair states’ ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect.”
More than 20 states and Washington D.C. ban the widely discredited practice for minors, according to the Washington Blade.
Chiles, with support from the Trump administration, said the law wrongly bars her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids, AP reported.
Chiles contends her approach is different from “conversion therapy” practices from decades ago, like shock therapy. Her attorneys argued that the ban makes it hard for parents to find therapists willing to discuss gender identity with kids unless the counseling affirms transition.
The court’s decision was announced on International Day of Transgender Visibility.
