US Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's ban on conversion therapy

The US Supreme Court has ruled against a law in Colorado that bans so-called conversion therapy for lesbian, gay and transgender people.

It sided 8-1 with a therapist from Colorado Springs who argued that the state's restrictions violated her free speech rights guaranteed under the US Constitution's First Amendment.

Conversion therapy - which professional and health associations denounce but some religious conservatives promote - aims to encourage lesbian, gay and transgender people to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The justices ruled that lower courts had "erred by failing to apply sufficiently rigorous scrutiny" to restrictions on free speech.

Kaley Chiles, a licensed counsellor and practising Christian in Colorado Springs, argued the ban in her state interfered with her ability to treat individuals with "same-sex attractions or gender identity confusion" who "prioritise their faith above their feelings".

Chiles argued her First Amendment rights were violated because the law prohibited her from engaging in talk therapy with clients who want her help to "reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions (or) change sexual behaviours".

Writing the majority decision for the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed, saying Colorado's law "censors speech based on viewpoint".

"The First Amendment stands as a bulwark against any effort to prescribe an orthodoxy of views, reflecting a belief that each American enjoys an inalienable right to speak his mind and a faith in the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for finding truth," the opinion reads.

The justices emphasised that Chiles's talk therapy "involves no physical interventions or medications".

The decision sends the case back to the lower courts.

Colorado officials had said the law does not regulate speech, but instead regulates the conduct of professionals providing mental health treatment. They also argued the law does not prohibit discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation.

But the majority of justices said "the First Amendment's protections extend to licensed professionals much as they do everyone else".

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only one to dissent, arguing her fellow justices had failed to consider the context that Chiles was speaking as a medical professional - and that "First Amendment principles have far less salience when the speakers are medical professionals".

"Chiles is not speaking in the ether; she is providing therapy to minors as a licensed healthcare professional," Jackson wrote.

Plus, "such professionals are already subject to a number of other restrictions on their professional practice", Jackson wrote, including that "under Colorado law, licensed therapists must provide therapy that is consistent with the standard of care".

In a post on social media, Colorado's Attorney General Phil Weiser called the ruling "wrong".

Conversion therapy is "condemned by all medical associations", he said. "That's not about speech."

More than 20 US states have banned conversion therapy for minors.

The ruling comes after the justices appeared sceptical of the law when hearing oral arguments in the case last October.

Chiles sued over the Colorado law in 2022, and multiple lower level courts denied her request to pause the enforcement of the law. Last year, she appealed to the Supreme Court.

More than 1,300 practitioners across the US offer conversion therapy, according to a 2023 Trevor Project report.

The LGBT advocacy group's leader, Jaymes Black, said in a statement the court's decision was "painful".

"The Supreme Court's decision to treat the dangerous practice of conversion therapy as constitutionally protected speech is a tragic step backward for our country that will put young lives at risk," Black said. "These efforts, no matter what proponents call them, no matter what any court says, are still proven to cause lasting psychological harm."

Critics of conversion therapy say it can be emotionally harmful, cause mental health issues and increase risk of suicide. Some practitioners rely on talk therapy or prayer, but extreme cases have subjected patients to physical violence and food deprivation.

The American Medical Association rejects the idea that same-sex attraction or nonconforming gender identity are mental disorders, saying the claim is not supported by medical evidence.