In a monumental decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that counseling conversations are speech and that states cannot silence viewpoints in the counseling room.
In 2019, Colorado enacted a law prohibiting licensed counselors from engaging in “conversion therapy.” Under that law, counselors are free to engage in pro-LGBT counseling, but they cannot help people who want to overcome their same-sex attraction or gender confusion.
But last week the Court delivered an 8-1 opinion saying that Colorado’s law against so-called “conversion therapy” violates the First Amendment.
Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom helped litigate the case. In a statement, ADF said:
Kaley Chiles is a licensed professional counselor in Colorado who seeks to listen, guide, and help young people find peace in their own bodies. With their parents’ support, these clients come to her by choice—seeking honest, compassionate care.
But a Colorado law passed in 2019 forbids her from helping kids find peace in their own bodies, even when that’s exactly what they want. If she does, she faces crushing fines and the potential loss of her license.
Colorado’s counseling censorship law violates Kaley’s freedom of speech and that of her clients by censoring and prohibiting certain private client-counselor conversations regarding gender identity that the government disfavors while allowing—even encouraging—conversations the government favors.
This is clear, viewpoint-based censorship.
In a video interview with Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, ADF senior counsel Jake Warner said, “Colorado has been no respecter of the First Amendment. ADF has litigated multiple cases, including up to the U.S. Supreme Court against the state of Colorado in its effort to censor ideas that it disagrees with.”
Warner also said the ruling helps protect counselors not only in Colorado, but in at least 23 other states and over 100 local jurisdictions around the country that have enacted similar bans on “conversion therapy.”
Many people want counselors to help them overcome unwanted same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria, and many medical experts — like the American College of Pediatricians and the HHS — believe that encouraging a child to disagree with his or her biological sex is harmful.
In Arkansas, multiple “conversion therapy” bans have been filed at the Capitol over the years, but none have passed. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in this case shows that Arkansas’ lawmakers were right not to enact these flawed measures.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
