More than 180 House and Senate Democrats called for the Supreme Court on Tuesday to uphold Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, calling the controversial and widely discredited practice harmful and “violative of medical ethics.”
The Supreme Court agreed in March to hear a Colorado therapist’s challenge to a state law that has since 2019 barred mental health care providers from attempting to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity to align with heterosexual or cisgender norms. Providers who conduct conversion therapy are subject to disciplinary action from state licensing boards.
Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, Colo., challenged the law in 2022, claiming it interferes with her ability to treat individuals with “same-sex attractions or gender identity confusion” who “prioritize their faith above their feelings.”
In court documents, Chiles, who only uses talk therapy in her counseling practice, said she works with adults seeking Christian counseling and minors “who are internally motivated to seek counseling.”
Represented by the Christian legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom, Chiles argued in an appeal to the Supreme Court in November that the state’s law against conversion therapy violates her and her clients’ religious beliefs and free speech rights. Two lower courts dismissed Chiles’s case, ruling that the law regulates professional conduct, not speech.
The justices are slated to hear oral arguments in Chiles’s case in October, with a decision expected by summer.
Major medical and mental health organizations have broadly condemned conversion therapy practices, which have been linked to higher rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts in LGBTQ youth and adults.
Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C., have laws prohibiting licensed health care providers from subjecting minors to conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit that tracks LGBTQ laws. In four states and Puerto Rico, conversion therapy for minors is restricted but not entirely banned.
In an amicus brief filed Tuesday, 187 House and Senate Democrats said Colorado’s law is constitutional because legislatures have historically regulated professional conduct to enforce compliance with state and federal law.
“This Court has long recognized salient distinctions between core protected speech on the one hand and regulating professional conduct incidentally involving speech on the other. It has long permitted Legislatures to regulate the latter category more freely,” the lawmakers wrote.
“At the core of Legislative power is the regulation of conduct,” they added. “Legislatures—from the Founding to present—have long regulated professional conduct.”
The lawmakers — 167 House members and 20 senators — said the justices, in siding with Chiles, “could endanger decades of legislation designed to protect the public by holding professionals to the standards of their profession.”
“Amici are concerned that Petitioner’s theory would undermine a range of laws, including those about informed consent, corporate disclosures, state bar regulations, and even false advertising,” they wrote.
At least 70 amicus briefs have been filed in the case since the Supreme Court agreed to hear it in March.
Groups supporting Chiles include the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, the James Dobson Family Institute, the Family Research Council and Do No Harm.
The Conversion Therapy Survivor Network, the Trevor Project and 14 scientific organizations led by the American Psychological Association filed briefs in support of Colorado.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Comments