Kids can be subjected to harmful 'conversion therapy,’ U.S. Supreme Court rules

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, on Transgender Day of Visibility, struck down Colorado’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy” for minors. The decision elevates abstract free-speech doctrine over a growing body of medical evidence and leaves LGBTQ+ youth more exposed to a practice doctors have long described as harmful. The Court ruled 8–1, with a broad majority, including two liberal justices, joining the opinion striking down the law, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting.

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In Chiles v. Salazar, the Court held that because conversion therapy often takes the form of talk therapy, Colorado’s law amounts to a content-based restriction on speech and cannot survive First Amendment scrutiny. Writing for the majority, the Court emphasized that the law “targets speech based on its communicative content,” rejecting the state’s argument that it was regulating professional conduct rather than expression.

The ruling is a stark setback for states that have tried to draw a bright line between legitimate care and practices rooted in discredited ideas about sexuality and gender.

“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,” Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black said in a statement. Black added that LGBTQ+ youth subjected to conversion therapy are “more than twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to their peers,” underscoring the stakes of the ruling.

The Human Rights Campaign issued a similarly forceful response. “Today’s reckless decision means more American kids will suffer,” President Kelley Robinson said, calling conversion therapy “pseudoscience, not real therapy” that “harms families, traumatizes children, and robs people of their faith communities.” The organization warned the ruling could undermine protections in 23 states and Washington, D.C., where similar laws are in place.

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Colorado argued that conversion therapy is not merely an expression but a form of clinical intervention — one associated, major medical groups say, with depression, anxiety, and increased suicide risk. The Court was unpersuaded and concluded that the Constitution does not allow the government to decide which messages may be delivered in a therapist’s office. The majority opinion warned that allowing such regulation would give states “broad power to restrict speech it disfavors” within licensed professions, a move it said would have sweeping implications beyond this case.

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A February research brief from The Trevor Project found that LGBTQ+ young people with recent exposure to the damaging and discredited practice reported the highest rates of suicidal ideation and attempts: 61 percent said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 35 percent reported attempting it, far higher than among peers whose exposure was further in the past. Overall, one in 20 LGBTQ+ young people reported having been subjected to conversion therapy, with higher exposure among transgender and nonbinary youth, the Trevor Project found.

Advocates also emphasized that every major medical and mental health association in the United States has condemned conversion therapy, and that such practices have been linked to depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide, particularly among minors.

“The Court’s decision today is painful, but it does not change the facts: conversion therapy is dangerous, it is malpractice, and survivors still have the ability to seek justice for the harms caused by these practices," Black said. "To LGBTQ+ young people everywhere, please know this: Regardless of today’s decision, or any other headlines you read, you belong. You are worthy, you are loved, and there is nothing wrong with being who you are."

This story is developing.