Washington: The U.S. Supreme Court was set on Tuesday to hear a free speech challenge to a Colorado law banning psychotherapists from conducting "conversion therapy" that aims to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The dispute pits Colorado's authority to forbid a healthcare practice it considers unsafe and ineffective against the rights of Christian licensed counselor Kaley Chiles, who challenged the law under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections against government abridgment of free speech.

Colorado is among more than two dozen states and the District of Columbia that restrict or prohibit conversion therapy for patients younger than 18. Medical groups such as the American Psychological Association in court papers cited studies showing that the practi

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