Supreme Court weighs bans on `conversion therapy' for LGBTQ+ kids. Live coverage.

WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court is diving back into the culture wars, debating whether states can block licensed therapists from attempting to change a young person's sexuality or gender identity.

The court on Oct. 7 is considering a Christian counselor's claim that Colorado's ban on "conversion therapy" violates her free speech rights.

Colorado officials argue the state's 2019 law − which is similar to restrictions in about half the states − is needed because of “overwhelming evidence” that conversion therapy harms young people, including by increasing the risk of depression and suicide.

The case comes months after the high court ruled in June that states can ban gender affirming care for minors. And the justices will consider later this term whether states can prevent transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams.

Follow along for updates of today's arguments.

Therapist’s lawyer says Colorado is censoring speech it opposes

Colorado is trying to ban “voluntary conversations censoring widely held views on debated moral, religious and scientific questions,” the lawyer representing counselor Kaley Chiles said in his opening argument.

States can’t transform counselors into “mouthpieces for the government,” attorney Jim Campbell said.

And he told the justices that Colorado hasn’t proven the type of talk therapy that Chiles wants to engage in is harmful.

--Maureen Groppe

Clash of visions over what's right for young patients

Colorado argues that states have long had the ability to protect patients by regulating health care professionals. State officials also say the evidence shows trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity doesn’t work and can lead to depression, anxiety, loss of faith and suicidal thoughts.

Kaley Chiles, the counselor challenging the ban said she’s engaging in voluntary “conversations” with clients and there’s no evidence that her approach is harmful.

Chiles says that current Colorado law allows her to support an adolescent who wants to transition to another gender but bars her from helping them to accept their assigned sex at birth.

Supporters of 'conversion therapy' ban rally at Supreme Court

Outside the Supreme Court, groups of LGBTQ+ advocates demonstrated against conversion therapy.Some held signs that said the practice “hurts kids, hurts family, hurts faith.”

Matthew Shurka, 37, said the outcome of the case is “life and death.”

The founder of Born Perfect − an organization that advocates for conversion therapy bans − said he was subjected to conversion therapy when he was a teenager and that it led him to contemplate suicide.

He said he founded the group to ensure no other LGBTQ+ children experience what he did.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher for kids,” he said.

Colorado law signed by nation’s first openly gay elected governor

The state regulation being challenged was signed into law in 2019 by Gov. Jared Polis, the country's first openly gay elected governor.

“In just 27 years, we’ve had a remarkable transformation from what was derogatorily called the ‘hate state’ to a place where the rights of all Coloradans are respected,” Polis said, according to NPR.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is defending the law, is among the candidates running in next year’s election to succeed Polis.

Past decisions on speech and health care could influence conversion therapy ruling

Previous high court decisions about free speech in the health care context could come up in the conversion therapy debate.

In 2018, the court said a California law requiring anti-abortion pregnancy centers to inform women about publicly funded abortion and contraception services had First Amendment issues.

“Speech is not unprotected merely because it is uttered by ‘professionals,’” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra.

But the court acknowledged that states can regulate professional conduct even it if “incidentally” involves speech.

Thomas pointed to the court’s 1992 decision upholding a Pennsylvania law requiring doctors to provide certain information to patients before they could perform an abortion.

--Maureen Groppe

Court sidestepped issue two years ago

In 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a similar challenge to Washington state’s law brought by a Christian marriage and family counselor.

Three conservative justices − Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh − said they would have granted that appeal. It takes four justices to agree to hear a case.

Thomas said the Washington law was "is viewpoint-based and content-based discrimination in its purest form."

Who is defending Colorado's `conversion therapy' ban?

Shannon W. Stevenson, Colorado's chief appellate lawyer, is defending the state's ban.

She was appointed solicitor general in 2023 by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for governor.

Who is arguing against Colorado's `conversion therapy' ban?

Jim Campbell, the chief legal counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, is representing Kaley Chiles, the Colorado counselor challenging the state's conversion therapy ban.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a conservative legal organization that has appeared frequently at the court in recent years in cases involving high-profile social issues. Those included a successful 2023 case brought by a Colorado web designer who said having to create websites for same-sex weddings would violate her free speech rights.

Is the Trump administration involved in the case?

Although the case is about a state – not federal – law, President Donald Trump's Justice Department has gotten involved. At the department’s request, Justice Department attorney Hashim M. Mooppan will get time during oral arguments to support the counselor’s challenge.

The Justice Department has already told the justices that Colorado is “muzzling one side of an ongoing debate in the mental-health community about how to discuss questions of gender and sexuality with children.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court weighs bans on `conversion therapy' for LGBTQ+ kids. Live coverage.

Reporting by Maureen Groppe, Bart Jansen, Aysha Bagchi and Christopher Cann, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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