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United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
“We were told by pastors and Focus on the Family that we had to fix him. Instead, we taught him to hate himself. And when a child is dead, you don’t ever get to repair that,” Linda Robertson said of her late son.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Chiles v. Salazar, a case that could determine whether states may ban licensed therapists from performing so-called conversion therapy on minors or whether such laws violate the First Amendment.
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The case stems from a challenge brought by Kaley Chiles, a Colorado therapist represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group. Chiles argues that Colorado’s 2019 law prohibiting licensed mental-health professionals from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity restricts her ability to speak freely with clients. Twenty-five states have laws that ban use of the discredited practice on minors.
Related: How the Supreme Court’s conversion therapy case could reshape LGBTQ+ protections across America
Chiles’s lawyers claimed that the law “censors voluntary conversations between counselors and clients” and prevents her from helping minors “pursue state-disfavored goals” on “debated moral, religious, and scientific questions.” Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson, defending the state, countered that the law protects minors from harmful and discredited practices and regulates professional conduct, not speech.
During arguments, several conservative justices questioned whether talk-based counseling qualifies as protected expression. Justice Neil Gorsuch pressed Stevenson on the law’s text, and Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked how Colorado distinguishes between “speech-only” therapy and medical treatment involving medication. Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the state’s reasoning had shifted.
Related: Christian group defending LGBTQ+ conversion therapy at SCOTUS accused of using 'false evidence'
Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked whether Chiles faced any real threat of prosecution, noting that the state has not enforced the law against her or anyone else. Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned whether therapeutic speech could be separated from professional practice.
The U.S. Department of Justice supported Chiles’s position. Principal Deputy Solicitor General Hashim Mooppan told the court that Colorado’s statute imposes a “viewpoint-based restriction” because it allows counseling that affirms gender transition but bars counseling that encourages clients to “realign their identity with their sex.”
Lower courts are divided: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down similar bans in Florida, while the Third, Ninth, and 10th Circuits have upheld them.
Following the arguments, Chiles and her attorneys spoke to assembled members of the press on the steps of the Supreme Court. “I view my work as an outpouring of my faith,” she said. “I want what is best for my clients, and often they seek me out because we have a shared faith. But Colorado’s law hovers over every counseling session. It hurts kids struggling with gender dysphoria most of all. Struggling kids deserve better than Colorado’s one-size-fits-all approach.”
ADF attorney James Campbell called the law “blatantly viewpoint discriminatory.” He said it “allows counselors to help a child pursue gender transition but forbids them from helping a child realign their identity with their sex.” Campbell added that the court “seemed very receptive” to ADF’s arguments and claimed Chiles had recently received anonymous complaints alleging violations of the law, complaints he said the state “is now demanding she respond to,” which “makes it abundantly clear” the law is being enforced.
Related: Almost 200 members of Congress call on the Supreme Court to uphold bans on conversion therapy
Medical experts and leading professional associations have long rejected conversion or change-effort therapies. The American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, among others, oppose such therapies due to risk of harm and a lack of credible evidence of benefit.
Multiple studies have found that people who report exposure to conversion efforts have higher odds of suicidality or suicide attempts.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser pushed back at a second press conference outside the court after the hearing. “This practice is harmful — it’s been banned on a bipartisan basis in Colorado and many other states,” he said. “It tells young people that who they are is not OK, leaving lasting harm.”
Weiser said ADF’s claims about state investigations were “not in the record” and that “there have been no official proceedings or efforts to take any action against the petitioner.” He told The Advocate that Chiles’s assertion that she has never been asked to affirm a patient’s gender or sexual orientation highlights “a real problem in this case — we don’t have evidence of what she is actually doing.”
Related: Kentucky bans conversion therapy for youth as Gov. Andy Beshear signs 'monumental' order
Weiser also emphasized that professional regulation is distinct from government interference in personal beliefs. “Licensed professionals are held to a standard of care so the public can trust them,” he said. “That’s very different from private citizens sharing their opinions.”
Outside the court, Linda Robertson, a Washington state mother whose son Ryan died by suicide after undergoing conversion therapy, struggled to hold back tears as she spoke with The Advocate. Her voice cracked repeatedly as she recalled turning to religious counselors after her son came out and realizing too late the harm it caused.
“If I could do it over again with Ryan — oh, my gosh — he trusted me,” Robertson said. “We were told by pastors and Focus on the Family that we had to fix him. Instead, we taught him to hate himself. And when a child is dead, you don’t ever get to repair that.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson called conversion therapy “an abusive, discredited pseudoscience rooted in shame, rejection, and fear.” She said the practice can “destroy families, worsen mental-health outcomes, and rob people of their faith communities,” and praised Colorado’s law as a safeguard ensuring that “parents can trust licensed mental-health professionals to keep youth safe and supported.”
Robinson added that the oral arguments underscored why, as Colorado’s solicitor general argued, “history, precedent, and common sense” must allow states to hold professionals accountable to the standards set by every mainstream medical and mental-health organization. She urged the justices to “stand strongly between our children and these abusive practices.”
Robertson said she came to Washington to remind justices and the public that the debate is not theoretical. “Conversion therapy directly attacks secure attachment,” she said. “Kids can handle distress. They cannot handle being alone in their distress. That’s what causes trauma.”
She added, “No licensed therapist should use treatments proven to hurt kids.”
A decision in Chiles v. Salazar is expected by June.
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
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