Supreme Court takes up Colorado conversion therapy case

The Supreme Court granted a Colorado therapist’s request to review her challenge to a state law banning mental health care providers from engaging minors in conversion therapy, a discredited practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity to align with heterosexual or cisgender norms.

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, challenged the law in 2022, claiming it interfered with her ability to treat individuals with “same-sex attractions or gender identity confusion” who “prioritize their faith above their feelings.”

The court’s decision to take up her challenge comes after the justices previously turned away opportunities to weigh in on conversion therapy bans. The case is set to be heard during the Supreme Court’s next annual term, which starts in October.

Chiles, who only uses talk therapy in her counseling practice, said in court documents that she works with adults seeking Christian counseling and minors “who are internally motivated to seek counseling.”

She argued that she assists her clients only in their “stated desires and objectives,” which sometimes include reducing or eliminating “unwanted” sexual attractions or learning to “grow in the experience of harmony with one’s physical body.”

Chiles, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, said Colorado’s 2019 law had forced her to deny voluntary counseling exploring sexuality and gender in violation of her and her clients’ religious beliefs and free speech rights.

A Colorado district court rejected Chiles’s suit in 2022, as did a panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2023 that the law regulates professional conduct, not speech.

Zach Schonfeld contributed.

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