- The Supreme Court will hear a case over whether conversion therapy is protected by the First Amendment in its next term. Conversion therapy is meant to convince people to change their sexual orientations or gender identities.
- Colorado banned the practice, but a Christian therapist is arguing that the ban violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
- The lawsuit uses a 2018 Supreme Court ruling as an example. In the ruling, the court said that a California law requiring anti-abortion clinics to notify clients about abortion access violated the First Amendment.
Full story
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case challenging Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy. The case stems from an appeal by a Christian therapist, who argued the ban violates her First Amendment rights.
What exactly is conversion therapy?
Conversion therapy is usually practiced on minors and is meant to convince those who identify as gay or lesbian to change their sexual orientation. The practice also targets transgender children, with the goal of having them identify as the gender identities that were assigned to them at birth.
Why does this matter?
More than 20 states have similar bans on books with LGBTQ+ themes, so whatever the Supreme Court decides is likely to impact a greater area than just the state of Colorado.
What’s the argument?
The lawsuit argues that the ban on such counseling violates therapists’ constitutional rights by limiting what they are allowed to talk about during confidential conversations.
Lawyers for Colorado do not deny the ban is meant to regulate professional conduct and, in their argument asking the Supreme Court to reject the appeal, said the decision was “based on overwhelming evidence that efforts to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective.”
What sets this case apart?
The Supreme Court declined to take up similar cases concerning conversion therapy in the past, with one case declined as recently as December 2023.
However, this case is being compared to a 2018 Supreme Court decision, where the justices ruled 5-4, which stated that a California law requiring anti-abortion pregnancy clinics to notify clients about abortion access did violate the First Amendment.
When will the justices make their decision?
This case will be argued and decided in the court’s next term, which starts in October 2025 and ends in June 2026.
