At the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a majority of justices seemed poised to rule against a Colorado law banning licensed mental health practitioners from engaging in any therapy that tries to change a young person’s sexual or gender identity. The justices have until the end of June 2026 to release their decision on the case.
While the ruling could have clear impacts on young LGBTQ+ people and the future of so-called conversion therapy, the arguments also suggested it could have implications for the ways in which medicine is regulated more broadly, and how medical consensus and standards of care are considered.
Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor in Colorado who brought the challenge, contends that the state’s law amounts to censorship that violates her free speech based purely on her view