Topline
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Colorado’s ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy unlawfully regulated the speech of a therapist who wanted to counsel patients against being transgender, marking the court’s latest major decision against LGBTQ advocates—though the ruling still allows for bans on physical conversion therapy procedures.
Demonstrators in favor of LGBT rights rally outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2019.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Chiles v. Salazar, a case on whether Colorado’s conversion therapy ban—referring to practices that aim to influence a patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity—unlawfully regulated speech.
The case was brought by Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor who “believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex,” and argued Colorado’s law was discriminatory by preventing her from counseling people through talk therapy about their sexual orientation and gender identity, while allowing counseling that promotes “acceptance” around gender identity and transitioning.
Justices ruled Colorado’s law “suppress[es] speech based on viewpoint” and “seeks to silence a viewpoint” Chiles “wishes to express,” disagreeing with lower courts that found the state was justified in barring Chiles from counseling people against being transgender.
The court specifically ruled against Colorado’s law as it applies to Chiles’ case and talk therapy, with Justice Neil Gorsuch noting for the court the case did not challenge Colorado’s ability to restrict “physical interventions” for conversion therapy, like electroconvulsive treatments.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to side with Colorado, arguing in her dissent it’s permissible to regulate speech “when the speakers are medical professionals and their treatment-related speech is being restricted” in line with a state’s “regulation of the provision of medical care.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.