The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Colorado cannot enforce its 2019 law banning so-called “conversion therapy,” finding the statute likely violates the First Amendment by treating speech about gender identity and sexual orientation as protected only when it goes one direction.
The 8-1 decision came in Chiles v. Colorado, brought by Kaley Chiles, a licensed Christian counselor who said the state law effectively barred her from accepting certain clients. Specifically, the law prohibited counseling that “attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” Chiles argued the restriction was viewpoint discrimination: a therapist could tell a minor to embrace a new gender identity, but not help one who wanted to reconcile with their biological sex.
The majority held that the state cannot favor one viewpoint about gender identity over another simply by labeling the disfavored one as harmful conduct. The court sent the case back to lower courts with instructions to apply stricter scrutiny.
“We conclude that the courts below failed to apply sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny in this case,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion. “While the First Amendment protects many and varied forms of expression, the spoken word is perhaps the quintessential form of protected speech. And that is exactly the kind of expression in which Ms. Chiles seeks to engage.”
Colorado had argued the law regulated professional conduct, not speech, a distinction the state used to sidestep First Amendment review. The court rejected that framing.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenter.
The ruling carries weight well beyond Colorado. At least a dozen states have enacted similar laws in recent years, many using identical or near-identical language. Legal observers say Tuesday’s decision puts all of them on shaky constitutional footing.
Chiles said she had turned away clients specifically because of the law, fearing professional discipline or legal exposure. Her suit was backed by Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization that has litigated dozens of First Amendment cases at the state and federal level.
