The Supreme Court is to consider whether states can ban gay conversion therapy.
The court has now decided to hear the case of Kaley Chiles, a young counselor in Colorado, who is challenging a state law that prohibits therapists from counseling gay minors away from homosexuality.
Newsweek sought email comment on Tuesday from the office of the Colorado Attorney General and an attorney representing Kaley Chiles.
Why It Matters
More than 20 states have passed laws that ban therapists from counseling minors away from homosexuality. If the Supreme Court’s conservative majority finds such laws unconstitutional, it will permit counseling against homosexuality in many U.S. states.
Alliance Defending Freedom
What To Know
The Supreme Court previously declined to hear a challenge to laws that ban conversion therapy, a decision that was criticized by Justice Clarence Thomas.
But the decision to hear the case of Kaley Chiles, could lead to a different outcome.
There is also a separate movement in state courts to lift bans on gay conversion therapy.
On March 5, the Republican-controlled Kentucky House approved a bill that would overrule the Democratic governor’s ban on conversion therapy, the Kentucky Lantern news website reported.
The Kentucky bill would protect mental health services seeking to relieve “discomfort or distress caused by an individual’s sex or romantic or sexual attraction.”
In an initial petition to the Supreme Court on November 8, 2024 Kaley Chiles’ lawyer, Barry K. Arrington, states that she is “a licensed counselor who helps people by talking with them.”
The Petition—A Christian Counselor
“A practicing Christian, Chiles believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex,” he writes.
“Many of her clients seek her counsel precisely because they believe that their faith and their relationship with God establishes the foundation upon which to understand their identity and desires.”
“But Colorado bans these consensual conversations based on the viewpoints they express.”
The filing states that Colorado introduced its counseling restriction in 2019 and “prohibited certain conversations between a counselor and her clients underage 18, condemning (and mislabeling) these conversations as ‘conversion therapy.'”
The Colorado law bans “any practice or treatment … that attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” or tries to “eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
The Response: “Demonstrably Harmful”
In a January 6 reply brief, Colorado Attorney General, Philip Weiser, states that the ban is necessary.
“Based on overwhelming evidence that efforts to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective, Colorado’s legislature amended the state’s Mental Health Practice Act to subject mental health professionals to discipline for practicing conversion therapy on children.”
“This Minor Conversion Therapy Law prohibits licensed mental health professionals from trying to change their minor patients’ sexual orientation or gender identity, a treatment demonstrably harmful and ineffective,” Weiser writes.
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court has yet to set a date, but oral arguments will likely occur in the fall of 2025 and a decision is expected some time in 2026. In the meantime, both sides will continue to file briefs to the courts.